Thursday, May 8, 2008

AI - Goodbye Jason Castro - It Was Nice Knowing You

After this week's performance, I guess it was a foregone conclusion that Jason would go home.

Jason has been my "quirky favorite" all season. Not my actual favorite (as readers know), but I was still kind of pulling for him to go far. As far as memorable performances, only David Cook was his equal. I've already pretty much forgotten everyone else.


And then last week, there was all the hype about him "wanting to go home". When I read that article, I was torn between feeling sorry for him and being mad at him for not seeing it through.


Then, when he messed up on
both songs Tuesday night, I really began to wonder if he wasn't deliberately sabotaging himself. I actually was so embarrassed for him when he forgot the lyrics to Mr. Tambourine Man that I pushed the mute button on my TV.

But, hindsight is a good thing. In his Idol exit interview on EW, he cleared up the "wanting to go home" statement:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Jason, I hear you're upset that I printed the quote you gave to me about wanting to go home. Do we need to make peace?


JASON CASTRO: I'm not upset about it. It's cool. I said it.

I'm glad you're standing by what you said. We got a lot of angry mail about that piece.

The fact of the matter that day was I was in a bad mood. I was frustrated with a lot of things. Then I got on the phone with you. I was just not in a good mood. I couldn't find a quiet place to talk to you and I kept walking around. I couldn't focus while we were talking. I don't even remember much of what I said. There are some days that are just like that. You just don't want to do what you are doing.


And he also dispelled my "sabotage" theory:

So, set the record straight. You weren't sabotaging yourself? You didn't want to go home?

I did not want to go home. But at the same time, now that it happened, I'm kind of glad. It all worked out like it was supposed to. I was reaching the point where I couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't able to keep up and it all caught up with me.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So what happened with ''Mr. Tambourine Man''? How on earth do you forget the lyrics to that song?

JASON CASTRO: You know, that day I was just scattered. Right before I went on I was just sitting down and adjusting the microphone. I wasn't even settled in when I started. I just forgot where I was. I couldn't believe I forgot those words. Those words are so written on your heart. But I just laughed it off. I don't ever take myself too seriously. I'm still just human. I do wish I hadn't done that, but whatever. It happened for a reason. I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be.

Did you perhaps not want to win so you didn't have to be known as an American Idol winner?

Totally not. I really wanted to make the top three. I just really think the inexperience caught up to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be fair (which the judges generally were not), Jason had to contend with one judge who obviously didn't like him (RJ), one judge who was so eager to criticize him that she had to do it before he actually sang (NB - "Nut Bag"), and one judge who, thankfully, generally gave an honest critique, good or bad.


So, one of the two interesting remaining contestants is now gone. And look what
we're stuck with. Obviously, there is only one person who deserves to win.

And before we leave the Jason topic, a lot was made of his "goofiness", and some of the vague statements he made throughout the season.

However, isn't this a double standard?

Here, in a nutshell is how David Archuleta answers every question:

RYAN: David, what did you think of the judges' statements?

ARCHIE: Well, gee, I don't know.....I just........well, I just don't know. Aw shucks.

(sounds of girls screaming)

RYAN: Okay, great. What do you think has been your biggest challenge thus far in the competition?

ARCHIE: Well, gee, I don't know.....I just........well, I just don't know. Aw shucks.

(sounds of girls screaming)

I guess girls nowadays like their "men" inarticulate.

And I don't want to keep bashing little Archie (okay, I really kinda do), but he could choose any of the 500 songs that shaped rock & roll, and he chose "Love Me Tender"? Oh, I bet David Cook took his song choice, "Hungry Like The Wolf" - ha ha!

And I've said it before, but I will say it again: STOP changing the melody of the songs! Is he incapable of following a simple melody? What the.....?

I really think that the remaining two weeks (is it?) of the season would have been much more interesting with a different top three lineup. Say, for example, David Cook, Jason Castro, Brooke White. Or David Cook, Jason Castro, Michael Johns. Or David Cook, a lamp, and a potholder.

So, we await next week, when Syesha will go home. Then on to the BIG FINALE, when, if there is any justice, David Cook will win. But I'm not betting on it.

I leave you with a Jason Castro performance. It was kind of hard to choose, but I thought it might be good to feature one that I haven't already included in my blog:

JASON CASTRO - HALLELUJAH - "Absolutely Brilliant" ~ Simon Cowell


Okay, just one more. I happened to really enjoy this one:

JASON CASTRO - FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS






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