In A Turn Of Events

In A Turn Of Events is a one-on-one interview show whose guest list refuses to stay in one lane. A chef, a muralist, a pizza-chain owner, a National Geographic photographer, a marketer and a former college football player all take the same seat. Several of the conversations turn on a change of course, which suits the title. The host usually opens alone and explains why a guest caught his eye. An ESPN article about Russell Wilson's charity cleats sent him looking for Seattle muralist Jeff 'Weirdo' Jacobson, who painted them, and he introduces Chantel Soumis as 'the exact type of person I set out on this mission to interview.' That framing sets the tone: admiring, curious and openly enthusiastic. He describes himself as an artist with a large urban mural on his own bucket list, so the Jacobson conversation has a note of shared ambition, and it moves on to vulnerability and to showing failure alongside finished work. Food comes up from different ends of the business. Chef JJ Johnson, a James Beard Award-winning chef and author, talks about Field Trip, his Harlem restaurant built around rice bowls and global flavors, and about feeding frontline workers at the height of COVID, including his wife's team after she came home having eaten nothing all day. Jane Abell, owner and chairwoman of the board of Donato's Pizza, brings in consumer metrics, including the fact that eating pizza more than 2.5 times a month makes the host a 'super user'. From there the talk moves to Columbus pizza favorites, and Rubino's, with its very different style of crust, is one of the places named. Martin Edström, a National Geographic photographer and explorer, joins across a six-hour time difference. His immersive 360-degree work includes an expedition to the world's largest cave, in Vietnam, and the conversation covers trash in the Everest region, the risks he has taken on expeditions and the meditation he uses to manage anxiety. Some episodes go somewhere harder. Chantel Soumis, who started the company Stardust Creative and advocates for the differently abled community, describes multiple sclerosis symptoms that worsened while she was uninsured and putting off care, until she was crawling between rooms to make a bottle for her son. She says she remains permanently blind and that the illness made her more empathetic. Ryan Hawk, a Division I football player turned author, keynote speaker and podcast host, is introduced through his discipline, and the host describes how Hawk treats each day as a roadmap toward a long-term goal. Their conversation also asks why audiences see themselves in Joe Rogan in a way they never did with Larry King, and points to audible curiosity, authenticity and Rogan's willingness to admit when he is lost. The pandemic sits in the background of more than one conversation, and one intro wishes everyone well as they near breaking out of their cages. The goodbyes are warm and full of talk about drinks, calendars and staying in touch, and several episodes close on the same line: 'too late to turn back now.' For a first listen, 'Cement Boat Bandits' shows how far the show travels, and 'Your Brain Is Magic' shows how personal it can get.