Although we have featured this wonderful guest and journalist on the Rick Flynn Presents podcast before we have made the decision to rewind this episode so even more audience members can experience this brilliant and highly gifted writer and journalist CLAUDIA ROWE.

Longlisted for the 2025 National Book Awards in Nonfiction

“An immersive, devastating look at foster children’s lives.” (Seattle Times)
A compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform.
​This book is a must-read for anyone interested in child welfare, social justice, and the transformative power of the best narrative nonfiction.
In Wards of the State, award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system.

Contact Claudia at www.ClaudiaRowe.com

This week on the Rick Flynn Presents Confessions of a Show Biz Kid podcast we welcome Road Manager to the Stars CARL MILLER.

Carl Miller was Cat Stevens' road manager and worked in various roles with a who's-who of other big names from Iron Maiden to the Kirov Ballet. He sat down to compile stories narrated by his contemporaries from the world of rock n roll -- and got more than he bargained for.

Review:

I have been in the rock business for over fifty years. In that time I've seen and heard many funny and crazy things. Here are but a few.

Ian Hill, Judas Priest

Boy this book wherever books are sold including Amazon.

Note: Listeners are encouraged to listen to Rick Flynn Presents (Episode 244) which originally aired on August 6, 2025 to hear this guest speak on his very first appearance on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast.

Back by popular demand and making his second visit to the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast is author and Theoretical Linguist SAMUEL JAY KEYSER in promotion of his new book "Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts." In the book Play It Again, Sam Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and painting. He argues, for example, that the same cognitive function underlies both how poets write rhyme in metrical verse and the way songwriters like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (“Satin Doll”) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (“My Funny Valentine”) construct their iconic melodies. Furthermore, the repetition found in these tunes can also be found in such classical compositions as Mozart's Rondo alla Turca and his German Dances, as well as in galant music in general.

Contact the author at Facebook as Samuel Jay Keyser and purchase the books wherever books are sold or ordered including Amazon.