Masanori Mark Christianson

Masanori Mark Christianson
Birth name	Masanori Shirota
Also known as	Masanori Mark Christianson
Born	(1976-01-18) January 18, 1976 Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Alternative rock Indie rock Punk rock Rock
Occupation(s)	Art Director, Copywriter, Model, Musician, Songwriter, Visual Artist
Instruments	Bass Guitar, Drums, Glockenspiel, Guitar, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Synthesizer, Tambourine, Violin, Vocals
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Baria Records Bodycast Records Brushfire Records Hippies Are Dead Records The Rebel Group Vagrant Records
Associated acts	Ambulance BMXXX Golden Gram The Hawaii Show The Heavenly States The Lotus Eaters Masanori Plutonium Foil Release The Sunbird Rice Grinder Rogue Wave

Masanori Mark Christianson (born Masanori Shirota, January 18, 1976 in Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese-Korean-American musician, art director, copywriter, visual artist and model. He may be best known as a bass guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for the Oakland, California indie rock bands The Heavenly States,^[1] Rogue Wave and Release The Sunbird.

Masanori, also a nationally published and award winning advertising art director and copywriter, has worked for clients ranging from the Target Corporation to the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Although never a serious venture, Masanori occasionally dabbles in print modeling, voice-over and extra work for corporations such as UnitedHealth Group and the Investigation Discovery Channel.

Masanori is the older sibling of Los Angeles based musician and composer Ken Christianson. He is an alumnus of Carleton College.

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".

-Masanori was a member of the band The Hawaii Show which was a side project of Steve "Dude" Barone from the Minneapolis, Minnesota post-punk band Lifter Puller, precursor to The Hold Steady.

-Masanori played with Dan Greenwood from the Minneapolis, Minnesota band Cloud Cult in both groups Masanori and The Lotus Eaters.

-The album "You Can Feel Me" by Los Angeles, California singer Har Mar Superstar was recorded at Masanori's former Uptown, Minneapolis apartment in Minnesota.

-Masanori, Lori Barbero from the Minneapolis, Minnesota band Babes in Toyland 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 concert that he attended was performed by the Minneapolis, Minnesota alternative rock band The Replacements.

-Masanori designed the logo for the Target World Challenge, an offseason PGA Tour event hosted annually by Tiger Woods at the Jack Nicklaus designed Sherwood Country Club golf course in Thousand Oaks, California.

-Masanori once won a $600 bet from Robert Pollard by reaching level 32 in Dig Dug (Pollard reached level 29).

-The billboard slogan "Third World Brunch, Sally Struther's Portions", written by Masanori for Minneapolis, Minnesota restaurant Chino Latino, was removed after Sally Struthers threatened a lawsuit deeming it slanderous and the controversy aired as an evening news piece on CBS affiliate WCCO-TV.

References