Straight Up John Watanabe

The photo above (taken by Michael David) features my wife April in the front passenger seat (next to our friendly and capable driver Scott) and yours truly in the back, "K-WAVE's own John Watanabe...one of the celebrities riding in the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Parade on May 24th at 10am!", as mentioned for weeks on the website for my full-time on-air radio home during the last 14 years, KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio, FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles.   Almost every year, going back to 2012, April & I made appearances at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival via the K-WAVE radio booth (under a tent, next to other festival sponsors and vendors), but this year, in what was our final Garden Grove Strawberry Festival appearance (more on that down the road, as our retirement plans draw near), thank God that April & I really went out with a bang, by being featured in the festival's parade and other events involving me being chosen this year as one ...

  Praise God, on Saturday, May 24, 2025, my wife April & I will be riding in the parade (representing KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles) at the 65th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival (a free family festival which attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year in Southern California), and then I will be one of this year's celebrities signing autographs at the celebrity autograph signing table outside the Garden Grove Courtyard Center. The parade will start at 10am, and the autograph signing will start at approximately 1pm (for more details, go to the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival website and click on "Celebrities"...strawberryfestival.org/celebrities). About 6 years ago, a wrestling fan named David Samuel Blain from Florida tweeted, "I'd truly wish I would have met John Watanabe in person, as an FMW Japan wrestling fan." Well, just as the apostle Paul sincerely wrote words of encouragement to people w...

My wife April & I, a week ago, had lunch with my long-time good friend and former pro wrestler/trainer/promoter Sonny Rogers, at a certain restaurant that Sonny goes to and talks about almost daily, the Oak Creek Diner in Oak Creek, Wisconsin (pictured above), about four minutes away from Milwaukee Airport, and not far from the statue of "The Wrestler Who Made Milwaukee Famous", da one, da only, Da Crusher (HOW 'BOUT DAT?!). With the bad news of so many restaurants across the nation filing for bankruptcy or closing locations, this simple breakfast and lunch restaurant in Oak Creek was a big draw on this day. The parking lot was full (FREE parking, thank God) and while sitting in our booth, April joked, "The whole town of Oak Creek is here!" When it comes to the "eating out experiences" that April & I have enjoyed, the Oak Creek Diner reminds me of our times at (the sadly now defunct) Miller's Sensational Salads & Sandwiches in Canoga Pa...

Today, November 2nd is National Bison Day (celebrated on the first Saturday in November), which "honors one of the most magnificent beasts to roam the land". On National Bison Day, I thought I'd honor one of the most magnificent and good-natured beasts to rule the wrestling ring, an old friend and colleague from my pro wrestling announcing days, Mark "Bison" Smith (who passed away on November 22, 2011 at the age of 41). Bison Smith may have looked like a big, intimidating buffalo, but away from the ring and TV cameras, he was really kind, sensitive and good-natured. I thought I'd share a good-natured story revolving around the above photo featuring me and Bison. Backstage, before one of our Urban Wrestling Alliance TV tapings at the historic Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, I asked Bison if he could take a photo of me and someone else together (I don't even remember who it was) with my camera (before cameras on phones). Shortly after I h...

"Jesus wept" (John 11:35). That's the shortest verse in the Holy Bible. And this will probably be my shortest blog post. Above is a painting painted by a friend of my wife April's, a talented artist named Loretta Schroder of Big Bear City, California. In today's world where much of the "art work" we see is electronic, computerized and digitalized, it is SO refreshing to see an actual handmade painting on canvas, made with such great care by an actual human being's own hands. This beautiful painting features 2 verses from God's Word, Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1 (look 'em up, they're in there). Enjoy gazing at it, and may you see (visually and spiritually) the finger of God!

The photo above features me & my wife April with Bernie the baseball mascot, in one of the suites at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, California, the home of the California League's Inland Empire 66ers baseball team. Over the years, around this time of year, April & I have enjoyed visiting several different minor league baseball parks (this last June, we witnessed the Evansville Otters winning over the Windy City Thunderbolts at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana), and this photo brings back good memories involving this San Bernardino-based baseball team and my pro wrestling announcing career. More than a decade ago, I was one of the morning radio co-hosts on KCAA AM 1050 (the NBC talk radio station in the Inland Empire), which also featured live broadcasts of Inland Empire 66ers baseball games. During one 66ers game, at San Manuel Stadium, then-Inland Empire 66ers baseball play-by-play announcer Sam Farber invited me into the stadium's radio broadcast booth to be ...