Texas Lawyer Remembers Stint in Jacksons' Backing Band
There’s no shortage of lawyers who can reminisce about rocking out to the Jacksons back in the late 1970s. But how many can say they were actually on stage with them?
Eliot D. Shavin, a private practitioner in Dallas and a lecturer in the civil clinic at Southern Methodist University, told Texas Bar Blog about the month he toured with Michael Jackson and his brothers.
Shavin said the backing band traveled in a separate bus from the Jacksons, so he and his brother—a musician who got him the monthlong touring gig—didn’t interact with them much, although he does remember tossing a ball around with his brother and Tito.
Shavin was a classically trained cellist biding his time between graduate school and law school. “I think that I looked down my nose at pop music at the time, but I really enjoyed playing the music,” Shavin said. The music was more challenging than I expected it to be.”
“Ben” is the one song Slavin says he can remember playing.
The Jacksons “were a talented group of performers—they really did create a sensation,” Slavin said. ‘I never really appreciated Michael Jackson until Thriller, but he was really very talented.”
