Castrocopia Know-It-Alls Would Love to Interview / Sign Jason Castro

Sat, 17 May 2008 22:51:33 -0600

Liz Lemon: Hi, McLovin. A whole week (plus) has gone by since Jason was eliminated and we haven't had a chance to talk about it. I haven't even had time to ask you if you saw me wave this week what with all we've had to cover just to keep current. And all we've been doing is hunting down interviews to post on our site. Can you imagine how harried poor Jason has been this last week? It makes me wonder if this is any indication of how packed their schedule has been while still in the competition. If so, then it's amazing that they ever pull any song together enough to perform it adequately.

I know you've watched all the interviews. Are you sufficiently versed in why Jason has dreads and why he forgot lyrics to a song and whether he said Vote Vote or not? Can you recite these answers in your sleep? At least there have been one or two relevant interviews where we heard something for the fans - something we would have asked ourselves or something that wasn't already patently evident with a small amount of research. And of course there are live performances that trump any interview. Have you learned anything new from this past week? What do you wish someone had asked?

(click Read More to continue)McLovin I HAVE learned something new this week. I learned that you really don't need to know a whole lot about music history to get a job at Fuse TV. I'm currently unemployed -- maybe they're hiring. I'm probably over-qualified, because I knew - and can't believe that Jared and Steve didn't know - that I Shot The Sheriff is a Bob Marley song. (Methinks Simon didn't know, either. I don't think he was upset that Jason 'touched' a Marley song. He was upset that Jason 'changed a Clapton song'. Prior behaviour on the part of Simon, et al, leads me to believe that this might have been the case.)

Kudos to both Juliet Huddy from The Mike and Juliet Show and Michael Slezak at EW for going beyond the obvious and getting to the heart of the matter: that Jason may be goofy, but he's intelligent; that he may be inexperienced, but he's gifted; that he didn't give up, he couldn't put his heart into the songs because he didn't have time to what? Give the music the attention it deserved within Idol's whirlwind schedule of keeping the contestants constantly busy doing everything BUT music. Because going to Vegas is important.

I wished that someone had asked Jason about his original music. When he said that he would learn only half a song before moving to another one, I wondered if he's done that with his writing, and whether he's got a dozen half-written songs sitting around in his head to go along with the four we know about. He's got a lot of hurry up and wait coming up with the tour this Summer, riding the bus between venues -- I hope he's able to use the time creatively.

So what do you think, Lemon? Will our dearest dream come true, the one in which 19E passes on signing Jason and he gets on a smaller label that will do him justice? Or are you going to have to get close enough to Nigel at the Finale next week to get a little snip of his hair for our voodoo doll? And I'm so excited that you're going to the Finale!! EEEEEEE!!!!

Liz Lemon: EEEEEE!! My squee is mitigated by the fact that you can't make it. But on the off off-chance that I run into Nigel, I'll definitely snip the hair. And on the off off off-chance I run into Jason, what 3-4 sentence statement, finished by a pertinent question, should I utter? Or should I behave like the stupified fans outside the interview venues and just lean in for a picture without so much as uttering, "O hai, Jason, Iz ur biggest fan."

In regards to our dearest dream, I feel like shushing people who speak glowingly of Jason - at least until 19E releases him. He's like a precious work of art, lying unnoticed at a shitty garage sale filled with discarded replicas and worn out crap. You don't want the owners to realize what they have before you've gotten it home. I want him out of the clutches of those tone-deaf capitalists and into the hands of the producers Jason feels would understand him. And I'm convinced they are out there and we aren't alone in our appreciation. Good people have taken notice of him and for the right reasons. 19E never ceases to amaze me with their market myopia.

As fans, is there something we should be doing to help Jason out? Should we be emailing the hell out of journalists? Should we be spamming online polls and blog comments? Or should we avoid pissing people off and looking like your typical American Idol fankooks? What do you think, McLovin? Do we have a role in Jason's future?

McLovin We sure do, and Jason's looking forward to our future together so let's make the most of it. E-mailing the hell out of journalists is tricky business. Idol contestants are unique to the industry in that when they leave Idol they've come with a built in market base with them, so that's good. But who wants to deal with nutso fans? I'd say Clay Aiken's and Taylor Hicks' fans have caused them both a lot more harm than good by popping off batshit crazy e-mails to writers and bombarding the comments section whenever journalists and bloggers express negative opinions. That just invites other readers to call them talentless hacks (or worse) and the next thing you know, it's disintegrated into a full on flame war at the bottom of an opinion piece. I think poor David Archuleta wins the Crazy Fan Base Trophy this year, but I worried that Jason's was going to briefly overtake them following the Mandy Bierly/Jessica Shaw Hollywood Insider piece. Not that that article didn't have it coming with the half-assed misinformation it contained, but a lot of the comments made us all look insane because they were so emotional. This one, for instance:

THAT IS SO MUCH BULL. I THINK THAT YOU PEOPLE DONT HAVE ANY OTHER GOOD NEWS SO YOU JUST MAKE UP S__T ABOUT JASON THAT IS REALLY LOW SO STICK THAT IN YOUR JUICE BOX AND SUCK IT!

Er -- WTF? And that one was comparatively level-headed.

I don't know if writing journalists who already cover AI is effective anyway. They've seen the show and have formed their opinions already. Jason wasn't a typical AI contestant anyway, so it makes more sense to me to spread the word to people who aren't already knee-deep in AI culture and generate some interest there. Maybe to the music section editor of your local newspaper or a college or independent radio station.

Liz Lemon: I also always suggest helping expand his market base. Unfortunately, American Idol succeeded in convincing people that Jason did not deserve to be in the competition. I'm sure we've all had an experience where we've confessed to our co-worker, friend, pharmacist or bail bondsmen that we were rooting for Jason Castro and gotten the same reaction you might expect for owning up to a third nipple: a little surprise, discomfort and disbelief. And you can talk til you're blue in the face; their minds are firmly swayed at this point. You really can't tell people about music though, right? Music has to be experienced. So I find making a CD with Jason's studio ITunes and lending it out to people works better than a thousand words. Call it a "challenge" if you want. Just ask them to listen once through the CD and if it's not their thing, no big deal - not everyone likes the same music. If they do like it though, you might convince them to purchase one or two singles. At the end of the day, sales will talk louder than all the journalists in the land.

Like you said though - Jason is looking forward to our future together. He wants fans who are there for the music and no matter how the producers, bloggers and journalists tried to interpret Jason's success on AI (and say what you will 4th place is a successful run), they'll never understand how firmly about the music it has always been for his supporters. Let's hope Jason himself believes it and keeps right on creating music to record for his first CD. Are you in for a share of Pantz Records, Ltd.?

McLovin O mah gaw! Are you saying we weren't voting our fingers off because he's luscious and we're twelve? *shocked*

I don't think AI convinced anyone that he didn't deserve to be there that wasn't already leaning that way because they think it's all about vocal strength and don't give nuance any value at all. And I hate to say it this way, but srsly? They're just AI viewers. A lot more people watch the show than end up buying their music products anyway. I've watched AI for years, but have only bought exactly two AI contestants' CDs - Elliott Yamin's and Bucky Covington's - and neither of them were even signed by 19E. AI's grip and effect on popular music today is only slightly less tenuous than our own, isn't it? Yeah, their success stories do really, really well, but if you compared the number of their successes to your average high-profile independent label over the same seven years, they'd come up short. The show and the tour are their moneymakers, not the music. And Jason not fitting in is a compliment, if you ask me.

So screw 'em! Bring on the tour, where Jason will have the opportunity to hone his craft and it's all going to fall together.

Liz Lemon: You are so right as usual. Everything's going to be alright and the pantz will be fine. He'll get to meet fans all summer outside the venues and he'll hopefully hear how much they love So Fast and Someday and his voice and all things music about him. I hope by the end of the tour he has so much more confidence to go along with all the experience he'll be gaining. If I didn't have such a fun summer planned, I might be tempted to wish it was already next Fall.

But that's later - next week, we get another dose of pants on our tv. Rumors are he'll be singing a duet with unknown. I don't even know how to begin predicting who they'll pair him with or how that will go down, but when you hear an ear-piercing whistle? That will be me, your Castrocopian representative! Look for me - I'll be the one waving the sign that says "McLovin is my Idol!" Gonna miss you, chica. I think that Castrocopia would miss you more though if you were gone for a few days.

So until next week? Hopefully I'll have some behind the scenes info to share. If not - we'll settle in for the long news drought and find fun things to do with our time here - and hunt down bootleg of course.

McLovin I'm gonna miss you, too, love, but knowing how much fun you're having will ease some of the pain. I already have visions of you deeply breathing the Castrofied air at the Nokia and stalking Jim Cantiello out on the red carpet; and of me - having to wire you bail money if David Hernandez gets within flying-leap distance of you. Can't wait for your tales of the ~~debauchery~~ extravaganza -- and for the summer tour bootlegs!

Peace out.
~McLemon

YouTube Tribute

Sat, 17 May 2008 22:42:36 -0600

Quite a number of forum posters have brought this YouTube tribute to Jason created by biancawoehlk to our attention and suggested it was Blog-worthy. So here ya go - enjoy!

Top 10 on Larry King Live

Sat, 17 May 2008 05:15:08 -0600

According to the Larry King Live show page on CNN.com, the Top 10 will be Larry's guests next week as part of a two-part special on Friday, May 23, and Monday, May 26. Go to the LKL page and scroll to the bottom to submit e-mail questions for the guests.

Jason Castro Radio Interview

Sat, 17 May 2008 04:23:54 -0600

Another, this one from KYXY in San Diego, containing the following new info:

1.) Okay. There's no new information.

OMG! Brooke and Jason AGAIN!

Sat, 17 May 2008 01:09:15 -0600

Plus Kristy Lee and Michael Johns.

Thanks to Madiownsyou for the tip on this yahoo video interview.

Jason and Brooke, This Time on KTLA

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:19:01 -0600

Thanks to Castrosized for the tip about this video clip from KTLA in Los Angeles. You may need to find the video on the Entertainment side bar on the right.

Jason Castro on Hollywood 411

Fri, 16 May 2008 22:13:26 -0600

Ms. Scarlett from our forum has just told us that Jason is on Hollywood 411 on the TV Guide channel tonight. She says the episodes repeat, so check your local listings. According to this interview, each of the Top 5 will have a duet with as yet unnamed someones. Squee!!

Picture of the Day

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:04:42 -0600

I really hate the stalkerazzi especially when they hassle Jason after a long flight. But on the other hand, when it yields pictures like this one, I have to kind of suspend my moral outrage a tiny bit.

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Thanks to lundymicron for the find.

Jason and Brooke on Good Day Dallas

Fri, 16 May 2008 11:32:48 -0600

Thanks to castrosbitch for the tip on this video of Jason and Brooke discussing the upcoming tour.

Marley Time!

Thu, 15 May 2008 21:21:57 -0600

Gah! This was like, three pages back!

Irresistible Object vs. Immovable Force
Uploaded by castrocopia

Ah. That's better.