Masanori Mark Christianson (born Masanori Shirota, January 18, 1976 in Ōmori

Omori

is a district located a few kilometres south of Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan accessed by rail via the Keihin Tohoku line, or by road via Dai Ichi Keihin. Ōmorikaigan, the eastern area of Ōmori, can be reached via the Keikyu line....

, Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

) is a Japanese-Korean-American musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, art director

Art director

The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....

, copywriter, visual artist and model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

. He may be best known as a bass guitarist and multi-instrumentalist

Multi-instrumentalist

A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...

 for the Oakland, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 The Heavenly States and as a touring bassist for the musical group Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave (band)

Rogue Wave is an indie rock band from Oakland, California, , and headed by Zach Schwartz who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust. Their first album was Out of the Shadow which was released privately in 2003 and re-released in 2004...

.

Masanori, also a nationally published and award winning advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 art director and copywriter, has worked for clients ranging from the Target Corporation

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

 to the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Although never a serious venture, Masanori occasionally dabbles in print modeling, voice-over

Voice-over

Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

 and extra work for corporations such as UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a diversified health and "well-being" company. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group offers a spectrum of products and services through two operating businesses: United Healthcare and Optum. Through its family of subsidiaries and divisions,...

 and the Investigation Discovery Channel.

Masanori is the older sibling of Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 based musician and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Ken Christianson

Ken Christianson

Ken Christianson is a musician and artist living in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. He is the composer of the score to the short film Better Left Alone . He is also a resident composer for the Minneapolis-based theater group, the Drama Troupe Players. He is also resident composer for the Samantha...

. He is an alumnus of Carleton College

Carleton College

Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...

.

Trivia

-Spanning the years from grade school through high school, Masanori was a 5 time State of Minnesota Music Teacher's Association classical piano contest performance winner.

-Masanori played harmonica on a noise track for the song "Own Your Own Home" by the Oakland, California band Rogue Wave on their album "Asleep At Heaven's Gate

Asleep at Heaven's Gate

Asleep at Heaven's Gate is the third album by the indie rock band Rogue Wave. It was released to average reviews on September 18, 2007. It was produced by Roger Moutenot . "Lake Michigan", the first single from the album, was featured in a TV commercial for Microsoft's second-generation Zune music...

".

-Masanori was a member of the band The Hawaii Show which was a side project of Steve "Dude" Barone from the Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band Lifter Puller

Lifter Puller

Lifter Puller, or LFTR PLLR, was an American indie rock band from the Twin Cities and the Boston area between 1994 and 2000. Their music is considered innovative, with its angular riffs and a synth-infused sound that predated the 80's revival fads of the early 2000s...

, precursor to The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...

.

-Masanori played with Dan Greenwood from the Minneapolis, Minnesota band Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult is an experimental indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota led by singer/songwriter Craig Minowa. The name originated from the ancient prophecies of indigenous North Americans.-History:...

 in both groups Masanori and The Lotus Eaters.

-The album "You Can Feel Me

You Can Feel Me

You Can Feel Me is the second CD from American singer Har Mar Superstar. It features guest appearances from Clark Baechle, Jacob Thiele, Broken Spindles , Busy Signals, Dirty Preston, and Beth Ditto.-Track listing:#"Intro" – 0:51...

" by Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California singer Har Mar Superstar

Har Mar Superstar

Sean Matthew Tillmann , better known by his stage names of Har Mar Superstar and Sean Na Na, is an American singer.-Life and career:...

 was recorded at Masanori's former Uptown, Minneapolis

Uptown, Minneapolis

Uptown is a popular commercial district in southwestern Minneapolis, Minnesota, centered at the Uptown Theater at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lagoon Avenue. It has traditionally spanned the corners of four neighborhoods, Lowry Hill East, ECCO, CARAG and East Isles neighborhoods, within...

 apartment in Minnesota.

-Masanori, Lori Barbero

Lori Barbero

Lori Barbero was the drummer for the Minneapolis-based band Babes in Toyland. She subsequently played drums for the bands Eggtwist and Koalas....

 from the Minneapolis, Minnesota band Babes in Toyland

Babes in Toyland (band)

Babes in Toyland was an American alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1987. The band was formed by Oregon native Kat Bjelland , with Lori Barbero and Michelle Leon , who was later replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992...

 and Marcel Galang from the Minneapolis band The Hang Ups have an imaginary band named Rice Grinder in homage to Masanori's Japanese-Korean, Lori's Filipino and Marcel's Chinese-Filipino heritages.

-Masanori's first rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

 that he attended was performed by the Minneapolis, Minnesota alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band The Replacements.

-Masanori designed the logo for the Target World Challenge

Target World Challenge

The Chevron World Challenge is an offseason golf tournament hosted by Tiger Woods, which takes place each December at Sherwood Country Club, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus, in Thousand Oaks, California...

, an offseason PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

 event hosted annually by Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

 at the Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...

 designed Sherwood Country Club golf course

Golf course

A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...

 in Thousand Oaks, California.

-Masanori once won a $600 bet from Robert Pollard

Robert Pollard

Robert Pollard is an American rock musician and singer-songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices, who disbanded in 2004, only to reform in 2010...

 by reaching level 32 in Dig Dug

Dig Dug

is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

 (Pollard reached level 29).

-The billboard

Billboard

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 slogan

Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...

 "Third World Brunch, Sally Struther's Portions", written by Masanori for Minneapolis, Minnesota restaurant Chino Latino, was removed after Sally Struthers

Sally Struthers

Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...

 threatened a lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

 deeming it slanderous and the controversy aired as an evening news piece on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate WCCO-TV

WCCO-TV

WCCO-TV, is the CBS owned and operated television station that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Its transmitter is at the Telefarm complex in Shoreview, Minnesota.- History :...

.