Local author, filmmaker, and podcaster Joe Pardavila has a new book, Good Listen: Creating Memorable Conversations In Business And Life, coming out on Tuesday, July 12th. Part memoir and part business book, Good Listen, details some of Pardavila’s celebrity run-ins (one such encounter is detailed below) during his career to teach people to become better at communicating. He also shares ways to create compelling conversations and powerful podcasts.
Here’s an overview of the book:
“They say talk is cheap—but podcasting is currently a billion-dollar business. Now Joe Pardavila reveals how you can create the kind of conversations that draw both audiences and applause. Drawing on his many years as a radio host on a top-rated radio show in the New York City area, Joe shares a bevy of illuminating anecdotes featuring such superstars as Taylor Swift, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer, and Chris Martin that demonstrate how the right communication skills can create magic moments—while the wrong ones can derail an entire conversation. He'll also show you how learning comedy improv techniques actually aids interviews. And, by the way, what you'll learn in Good Listen doesn't just apply to podcasting. Joe's mastery of “talking the talk” can work wonders in your personal life as well. If your everyday interactions aren't sparking your relationships, you'll discover how to not only find common ground with others but also create bonding opportunities that can carry you far in work, love, and life.”
To give you a taste of Good Listen, here’s an except regarding a run-in Pardavila had with Taylor Swift:
“I'M NOT PERFECT. I mean, you probably already guessed that by now. But did you know I was capable of pissing off one of the biggest celebrities on the planet?
I'm talking about Taylor Swift, who came into our studios for an interview once upon a time, which was a very big deal. Stay with me, this story is a little long, but it illustrates how making one stupid mistake before an interview even starts can screw up the whole thing.
At that time most of the biggest morning radio shows were being recorded on video and then posted online so fans could actually see their favorite stars be interviewed. The biggest of the big, Howard Stern, was one of the first to pioneer this practice. Naturally we wanted to video the Taylor Swift interview. But we were told by her team before she came in that we were only allowed to put the first five minutes of her interview on video.
This struck us as a little weird. We could video the whole interview but only post the first five minutes? Was she going to strip down to her underwear at minute six? Grow another head at minute seven? It seemed incredibly arbitrary to me at the time—as well as insanely irritating. But her team said, “Take it or leave it,” and in my head I was thinking, “Fine,” in that snarky way you use when you have to accept something you don't like.
Finally Taylor Swift came into the studio, and she was very sweet. Her publicist made a beeline for the videographer who shot the show for online. And just minutes before the interview was about to start, the publicist chirped, “Hey, guys, just a reminder, we're only going to shoot the first five minutes of this.”
Oh.
So now we can't even video the rest of the interview? My irritation blossomed into annoyance and maybe just a hint of anger. In the back of my mind, I was thinking we'd be able to record the whole interview and maybe talk them into letting us use the whole thing. That option was suddenly off the table.
I tried a workaround. I asked, “Hey, just out of curiosity, near the end of that five minutes, if we ask a follow-up question to one of her answers, would it be okay to keep recording?” The publicist was a little flustered. She said, “Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess so.” And then I pushed a little harder. “And what if we have a follow-up question to that follow-up question, would we still be able to keep recording?” The publicist grew more confused. “Uh … yeah, I guess so.”
And that was the point where Swift, listening to all this, figured out that I was being a dick.
“Well, somebody's being very saucy this morning,” she said.
After that remark, I was smart enough to quit while I was ahead. However, the damage had been done. I was now on her radar and not in a good way. But then the interview started, and it went very well. There were about five of us in the room asking her questions. She was delightful, we were all laughing it up, everyone was having fun. But I couldn't help but notice that every time I was the one asking a question, she gave me a long, hard look as if she was waiting for me to say something horrible.
And I inadvertently ended up obliging her.
At the time of this interview, there was an Ebola scare in the city. Everyone's a little on edge about it. So I said to her, “You know, you're famously fan-friendly. You connect with them, you do public hugs with them. With Ebola out there, do you feel afraid to offer those hugs to people you don't know?
She looked at me with pure hostility.
“No, why would I stop hugging my fans just because there's a very small chance of me getting something? No, full stop, I will not stop hugging my fans.”
I dropped the subject. Mainly because I could see the daggers shooting out of her eyes. Did she think I was implying that all her followers were plague carriers? I don't know. I was lucky she didn't rally all the Swifties to come after me. Or write a ten-minute song about our break-up. But anyway there is a point to this story, and let's get to it.”
To purchase the book, click here.
