of Jason's "Bold and Beautiful" appearance:



(I'm sure you had this one recorded even if you missed the first one somehow, but just for sake of completeness.)

In case your recording device failed you, here it is:

(via MJsBigBlog)

Now, go set your DVR/DVD/VCR/whatever immediately for today's episode!

This is a 2 parter...

Part 1 in which Jason talks about his charity work with Malaria No More and about overcoming his fears and shyness:

We Love Soaps: How did a shy person who plays drums by himself adjust to being recognized and screamed at by millions of people?

Jason Castro: I’m still adjusting. The hardest part is that I can’t get away. I can’t hide, I can’t put on a hat. It’s definitely a challenge because I am a private person. I am definitely outgoing and I enjoy meeting new people. I am not used to having the attention all the time. It’s one thing to have it on a stage, then being off stage and actually talking. It definitely makes me uncomfortable. But I take it one day at a time. And every time someone recognizes me it means I have a chance to share some music with them. I’m very grateful for that.

Part 2 in which he discusses his music, his fears in life and his role on the Bold and the Beautiful:

We Love Soaps: I have a quote from an interview. You said, “My biggest fear is wasting my life.” Can you tell me what that meant?

Jason Castro: It’s a daunting fear. I don’t want to look back at the end of my life and ask, “What did I do? Did I spend all my time trying to make money? Or was I doing things to change people’s lives? Was my music affecting people? Was I doing whatever I was doing with all my heart?” That’s a big thing for me. It’s an open ended question, what it looks like to not waste your life.

You all might have met the charming Cole Keeton at the merch table at the start of the State Lines tour last winter. If you did, you met a guy with a permanent smile on his face and a hilarious quip or funky dance move. He's a hotty mchotterson too. Do a friend of Jason a favor, or help out Cole because you know what I say is sooth. Either way, check this link and help get Cole a walk on spot on Mad Men next season. Hopefully, if you don't see him on that page, it means he's moved up so check page 2. You are supposed to be able to vote once per day... Some of us have multiple computers and devices too ifkwim.

Here's Jason to remind you!!

You know that trip to Washington State that Jason made last week?


Photo Credit: Patrick McGhee & AAFES


Photo Credit: Patrick McGhee & AAFES


Photo Credit: Patrick McGhee & AAFES

For a whole slew of photos from Jason's Excellent Flying Adventure (and other McChord Field/Fort Lewis Air Force Base doings) head on over to JasonCastroMusic.com!

There's a nice article in the Toronto Star blogs today:

Let's see, since he finished in fourth place on Idol's Season 7, he has released a debut album, is planning a tour in the fall, got married and got to sing on a soap opera.

On July 29 and 30, Jason will be seen on The Bold and the Beautiful performing his song "Love Uncompromised."

"I'm really excited I got to sing that one," he said. "It's probably one of the most romantic songs on the album. It reminds me of a good old-fashioned love song."

Jason also got about six lines of dialogue, maybe more, in his scenes with Hope (Kim Matula), Oliver (Zack Conroy) and Aggie (Sarah Joy Brown).

Head over here for the rest of the interview, which includes more nifty tidbits. (Thanks for the find, ohiocastrofan!)


Yesterday there was a cool mention in a very interesting blog that is well worth a look for itself, "The Boogie Man Is My Friend...", written by a "40-something female police officer and mother working in a "big city" in the west." (Wheels is the rookie she's been training.):

So I decided to give Wheels a break from 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Bone Thugs. [...] Now....time to see how he operated in a different realm.

Jason Castro. His album is good for the soul. On another note, Hallelujah has to be one of the best songs ever written by Leonard Cohen. And Castro's version is amazing.

Wheels was so excited when he heard the music, you would have thought I goosed him in the britches.

And lastly (at least for the nonce), "Let's Just Fall in Love Again" has made the top 5 of Norway's Hit 40 for the 11th week in a row--which includes 2 weeks at #3, 3 weeks at #2 (where he's sitting now), and 5 weeks at #1. US radio stations, get on the ball!

Hey! That question is from me! Woo hoo!

Want to see if your question has been answered yet? Head on over to the Fan Club Blog and Video pages and see. And keep checking for new answers every Tuesday, because Jason's not done yet!

And if you haven't joined the Fan Club yet, head over here for more info. You don't want to miss out on any of the fun!

As you may recall (see below), last week Jason participated in a flight safety course with the Patriots Jet Team, and he took some awesome video of his flight to share with us. Check it out at JasonCastroMusic.com!

There was a press release at hometownclipper.com announcing Jason's appearance in their show:

Castro and Adams will fly with the Patriot Jets in their Vodochody L-39 Albatros jet trainer, a sleek aircraft originally made for the Czechoslovakian military. Each of the L-39 are two-seaters. The Patriot Jets are meeting the two celebrities and media around noon at the Olympic Flight Museum, at the Olympia Airport. Normally, the Olympic Flight Museum charges a fee to visit the museum, in honor of the Air Expo and because of the excitement of the Patriot Jets and the celebrities, there is no admission cost on Thursday.

Spread the word:

Jason will appear as himself on The Bold and The Beautiful on July 29th and 30th. He will appear in scenes with Kimberly Matula (Hope) and Zack Conroy (Oliver). He will perform "Love Uncompromised," off his recently released self-titled debut album and The Bold and The Beautiful will play That's What I'm Here For as well.

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, the 2010 Daytime Emmy Award Winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama, is broadcast weekdays (1:30-2:00 PM, ET; 12:30- 1:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network. The show has taped more than 5,800 episodes in its 23 years on the air and is viewed daily by millions of viewers in more than 100 countries, making it the most-watched dramatic serial in the world.

Jason got to ride in a jet today at McChord Airforce base in Seattle and the bad lyrical puns are flying.

Looking good, Maverick.


There are more pics up at JCM and you can follow Jason on twitter to keep up with his crazy adventures.

If you are a member of Jason's Fan Club, you may recall that back in May, the call went out for questions we had for Jason. Well, for the past three Tuesdays, videos of Jason answering those questions have been posted on the Fan Club video page. So head on over and see if your question has been answered yet--and if not, keep checking, because new answers are coming every Tuesday!

Not a member of the Fan Club yet? Click here for more information and get in on the fun.

...from Hear/Say's Campus Correspondent:

The album is exactly what “Idol” fans would expect from Castro: a little pop, a little rock, and a little folk to create a sweet and mellow sound. [...]

Castro’s debut is a heart-felt and cheery, making it the perfect soundtrack for the summer.

Couldn't agree more.

Hey I don't have to fabricate any news today since Jason's in the mood to bring us up to date in his own words... Check out the new blog at JCM to hear what he's been doing and what he's got coming up. Haha!

Vlogs

The Season 9 Idol Tour recently kicked off and if you follow any idols on Twitter, you can keep up with their schedule and find out when they're heading to the venue, what they're doing between shows and, if you follow Tim Urban, get told "I love you" every night. ("You" meaning "y'all" which means "me".)

But think back to the dawn of time, when MySpace roamed the earth and such things as Twitter were only known to alien races and their abductees. Back in those days, while walking to school up hill both ways in the snow, we had to find out about our Idol through dodgy recaps from fellow concert attendees and bus stalkers. In the dark ages, to get any info direct from our Idols we were relegated to the mind-numbing HORRORs of MyFox.com type interviews in which we would learn every nuance of our Idol's perspective on his eventual demise on American Idol... or victory, depending on who you're a fan of. But otherwise, it was a virtual blackout.

It took a Season 7 Renaissance man to recognize the alchemistry of YouTube and spin gold (ugh, sorry for the extended metaphor). It started as a short video in the backseat of a car as Betsy displayed a newspaper ad from some of his fans. From there, Jason (or more likely Jackie) discovered that people wanted to know what Jason was up to, and more precisely, that people just wanted more Jason, period. Jackie - you will be a great entrepreneur one day.

On June 22, 2008, the Jason Castro V-Log was born and this was his first real installment, in which he would coin the phrase that would become the permanent name of these v-logs: Date Night.

Look how awkward he used to be... Oh how things change.


On June 24, 2008, he followed through with his first Date Night video, all cleaned up and probably smelling of cologne.


We had more behind the scenes access throughout the summer, including on the bus with Carly on July 15, 2008:


And a few that were more intimate, such as on August 5, 2008:


And who could forget him swinging at Dave Lichen's on March 24, 2009:


There have been a number of V-Logs, too many to post here. But you can watch all of his uploads on his YouTube channel. I should explain that the V-Logs are NOT the same thing as the Webisodes at JCM. So if you're trying to get it all, make sure you check out both places.

Thanks to Jason for always thinking of his fans first and communicating with us long before everyone else was doing it. You're ever the trend setter! And just because you tweet now doesn't mean we aren't jonesing for a new video. Date nights are ALWAYS welcome! (Hook us up, Jackie!)

Do YOU have a favorite Date Night or V-Log? Be sure to stop into the forum and let us know.

New details, fresh from the Facebook page of Jason's manager:

Jason Castro guest stars on CBS’s "The Bold and the Beautiful” Thursday, July 29th, and Friday, July 30th, on the CBS Television Network. Castro, third runner up on the seventh season of American Idol, will perform “Love Uncompromised,” off his recently released self-titled debut album. He will appear in scenes with Kimberly Matula (Hope) and Zack Conroy (Oliver) as Oliver attempts to romance Hope back in to his life after a terrible misunderstanding tore the two young lovers apart. Castro’s current single, “That's What I'm Here For,” will be heard in an upcoming episode of the show.

Unique and Undeniable

Every Jason fan has this expression etched in the deepest recesses of his or.... okay HER collective memory. Jason originated it and it has settled on him like a mantle.

The longer quote was actually recorded thus:

There's this quote from my first manager when I was playing drums in a band. We were rehearsing one time and getting ready for a showcase when he said this line that stuck out to me: "You've got to be undeniable." That just stuck with me. No matter what you do, it's not just about being the best, but being undeniable. That's good advice right there!"

Subsequent quotes add the "unique". No matter how it came to be known, it is an expression that has come to define Jason as aptly as anything else.

And, if I can be a little sentimental with you, "unique and undeniable" defines the people I've met in the years I've been hanging around in this community as well. I may have come here for Jason, but I stayed for the Copians. You all rock my world big and small. You are just a bunch of beautiful, wonderful, big hearted, lovely people and I love ya.

So I decided that for once, I'd shut up and let YOU write this blog and share why Jason is so unique and undeniable in your own words. And yes, you all *did* post these somewhere on the forum at some time. (Man are my eyes sore from the research! But so worth it!) If you aren't represented here, there was no slight intended - I'd love for this blog to keep growing, so please DO send me any quotes you'd like attributed to you (lizlemon@castrocopia.com). Or if you think I've horribly misrepresented you with the quote I chose for you, let me know and we'll just keep editing this until it's a true composite of our perspective on one Mr. Castro. (Lurkers or non-Copians - feel free to contribute! Just let me know how you want your name to appear when you email me.)

Thanks to all of U, heh.

After the jump, y'all....

That's What I'm Here For

It's a statement, it's a web tv show AND it's Jason's second single off his debut album. And that's a hat trick worth talking about.

If you missed the webisode, you can catch them all here. And if you missed the single, well you're a pretty craptastic fan, haha. But you can still get it at ITunes or wherever else you prefer to buy your digital music. And if you think that the internet is over, you can even get the CD from Target or .... do they still have record stores? You may even hear it wafting over the loud speakers while you're shopping. And if you already have it and love it, why not tell a friend about it?

And then there's the statement. It's very simple really. That's What I'm Here For... There isn't a GRE word in the whole title. The song itself isn't complicated. It's a promise of companionship gently offered to the one who captured his heart... or to you if you care to daydream a bit. But even though the message is personal when read as a love song, it also just so happens to lay down the foundation for what we can expect from Jason, musically and in a sense spiritually, from here out.

What is he here for after all? He started his fledgling career on the most watched television show of our generation, played this single for another reality show wedding and will appear again on a soap opera very soon (Bold and the Beautiful, check your local listings) singing something, probably this very song. He's written songs, traveled the country, the Philippines and Norway, opened and headlined, gotten married, recorded a debut album, released 2 singles, sold merch, blogged, twittered, started a band and stayed in touch with his family... And through it all, he's been remarkably attentive to his fans (though of course, we always want more, more, more). With all that complication going on in his life, he must have to remind himself once in a while why he does any of it. And I think we could use the reminder occasionally too... especially when we want a little more. (Does he need a little less?)

I know what I'm here for - and I sincerely believe it's what Jason's here for too. It's all about the music, baby.

---

Oh yeah and if you missed the rest of the Pointlessly Alphabetical Guide that we are barely keeping up with ourselves, never fear, it's here!

Happy 70th, Ringo!

Today, July 6, is Bill Haley's (1925-1981) birthday. He and his group, The Comets, were one of the first to successfully bring rock 'n' roll to a wider (read "white") audience, and their 1955 hit, a cleaned-up cover of Max Freedman and James Myers' "Rock Around the Clock," is frequently used as the beginning of the "rock era." And here it is:



Hope that helped wake you up after the long weekend!

It used to be that on every 4th of July, in every town square and large park and gathering place in the United States, someone would get up and read the Declaration of Independence to the assembled revelers. It may be two hundred and thirty-four years since it was written, but to me those words still evoke all the courage and dignity and idealism and determination it took to make such a radical and irrevocable break with tradition and family and history. So gather round:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

[...]

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Yankee Doodle (1770s), the Towpath Volunteers




Stars and Stripes Forever (1897), the Boston Pops




America the Beautiful (1895), Ray Charles




Have a happy and safe Independence Day!

That's the date that the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain. As John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail:

...The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.--I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not.--I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.--Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Adams got the date of the celebration wrong--we celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence instead--but he didn't miss on much else. The cost in "Toil and Blood and Treasure" may be ongoing, but "the End is more than worth all the Means" indeed. So, in his honor, a little holiday preview:

There's a July 4th sale going on at Jason's web store. Head on over to jasoncastromusic.com for details!

...right about here!

Jason came out on top on last week's challenge against Sons of Sylvia, bringing in 70% of the vote. Yay!

Okay, enough of the wild rumpus. Now his "That's What I'm Here For" is up against Hanson's "Thinking 'bout Something". Cast your votes here.

Here. It's #10, so just wait a little minute, and this will show up:



And their link leads to the Cambio Connect video (scroll down to the June 29th blog entry).

July is off to a good start, I think.


Thanks for the find, Same Cage!

...apparently taped back in March, when they filmed the "Crazy" mashup. But hey, it's new to us!



AND there is also this great acoustic "Let's Just Fall in Love Again":