There's a nice interview with Jason, including a video (that I can't watch, wah!) on the Fort Wayne Homepage. Jason performed a free show at the Jefferson Pointe Mall in Fort Wayne yesterday.

There's a nice interview with Jason, including a video (that I can't watch, wah!) on the Fort Wayne Homepage.

Thanks to jewelroman for capturing the show.

Nice acoustic opening on Love Uncompromised. You gotta love that they have the ability to harmonize.



And Hallelujah, which is fun for the audience participation and banter:

From Fox:

Click to pop up video.

By popular demand.


credit @kcjewels on twitter. From the Bottleneck, Lawrence.

Thanks to Jasonized for finding this video from bstrongspeaktru shot at Live at the Vineyard in Napa, featuring Brooke White with Jason on supporting vocals.

Thanks to violet for recording the show on Sunday.

Changing Colors:

By request for LiveLaughLoveOTH Que Pasa in the Marketplace.

This Heart of Mine

Thanks to Dakota for finding this and to malibuchef for recording this show. This was a somewhat private event called Live in the Vineyard that hosted a wide variety of artist for a lucky handful of people who won entrance. This performance is magic.

With Serena Ryder: You Can Always Come Home (starts around 1:30)

Thanks to kobefan131 for capturing Jason's show at the House of Blues last night. You can also find video of Hallelujah from last night at cjinsd's channel.

Geoff Duncan has posted some stunning pictures from The Loft. I want whatever camera he uses. Thanks to sixtimemom for the find.

Lovebugger is the hero of the day. Or maybe the week (since she brought us this video a couple of days ago). A number of us pulled up the If I Can Dream House website on Tuesday to watch as Jason paid a visit, performed a couple of songs and held a twitter party, but none of us had the good sense or technical skillz to capture it for the posterity. Except Lovebugger. On behalf of the universe, I thank you.

For the second time today, Lovebugger's youtube channel is here and you can catch Jason's performance of Let's Just Fall In Love Again and a little jam he does with Alex Lambert. But the performance that you REALLY don't want to miss is this one, That's What I'm Here For, acoustic and layered with harmonies. Just beautiful. Thanks again, Lovebugger!

That's What I'm Here For

Thanks to lovebugger for bringing the goods. Watch for more on her Youtube channel.

You Can Always Come Home:

Jason's show in Scottsdale last night received a favorable review from LocalSpur.

Jason charmed fans both young and old alike late into the night. Singing songs from his debut album, he was met with constant cheers and shouts from the crowd that gathered around the stage.

Jason plays the House of Blues in San Diego tonight.

Jason performed That's What I'm Here For on today's Ellen.

Thanks to ohio for the screencap.

Thanks to daydreamingmeme for capturing a moment in Dallas so beautifully.

Congratulations Jason for debuting in the top 20 on Billboard album chart! Additionally, Jason came it at #7 on the Digital album chart according to marketwire.

Cheers, Jason!

Don't forget to set your DVRs.



credit @diamonddave05

Michael posted his list of the 20 Best Performances EVAH in Ew.com. He placed Jason at 17.

...with his gentle wisp of a voice, the dreadlocked dude presented a radical alternative to the howling bombast that had been the hallmark of Fox's reality juggernaut for six previous seasons, and in less than two minutes, changed the Idol game forever.

You can watch the newest installment of Jason's webisode, That's What I'm Here For, in which he coaches soccer... now on JCM.

Jason is rumored to be making a visit to the If I Can Dream House this evening at 6 PM PST. The If I Can Dream House is an internet-based reality tv show that streams live 24/7. Currently, former season 9 AI contestant Alex Lambert resides there. It should be interesting to see if Michael comes along to hang out.

Also, don't forget to set your DVR for Ellen for this Thursday as Jason will be a guest on the show.

Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News loved the show too!

It's hard to dislike Jason Castro. Not so much because he's an amazing artistic talent, although he carries himself just fine, but more because he seems so genuinely affable, earthy. He's the guy next door, the one that always says hello with a smile.

This weekend was quite the Castrocon! Sorry for the lack of updates on the blog but there's a LOT of coverage of the event within the forum, thanks to the countless dedicated fans who recorded it, recapped it and scouted out reviews of the show. Jason brought down the house with a surprise, unplugged version of Hallellujah that Violet captured. You can see the rest of her videos of the show on her youtube channel. Hope you all had a great weekend whether you were with us or not!



Elg also posted videos from another angle. You can find her youtube channel here.

Changing Colors.

ITunes General Album Chart:

Do yourselves a favor and go watch Jonathan Tyler's new video for Pardon Me at his very Atlanticy official website. Buy some smokes beforehand because you're gonna want one after. I'm just... there are no words. Really happy for Jonathan and wish the best for his success.

Click here for a video from DallasNews.com of Jason's visit yesterday to the Dallas branch of The Children's Health Fund, now featuring extremely cute kids.

Jason is the Artist of the week on at Ace Show Biz and Melodic.Net, and is featured on Ali's Blog.

From The Republic:

a charming, well-crafted collection of catchy pop-folk

An interview with Hollywood Dame:

What are some of your hopes for the upcoming year, and what direction are you heading for?

My hopes, to do a lot of touring, hope the album picks up well. That’s really all I can ask for.

A track-by-track review from USA Today;

And, if you're interested in an opposing opinion: dripping disdain from Jim Farber at The NY Daily News:

The cheery chap Castro projects on the CD represents a kind of lost cousin to the one you may wincingly remember from last season's "American Idol." There, Castro played a blissed-out, probable stoner, a heavy-lidded, wide-smiled guy, who braided his hair into that beacon of cultural cluelessness: blond dreads.

No, dude. He was on Idol two seasons ago, dreads aren't braids, *I'm* the probable stoner - not Jason, and the beacon of cultural cluelessness is using references more than 25 years old when you're talking about current events (Jason is Spicoli? Really?! You couldn't have used Doug Benson instead?) Also, does Cameron Crowe know about this?

From this PR Newswire press release:

Castro will visit The Family Place, one of the Children's Health Fund's Dallas Program's service delivery sites for the mobile dental component of the program, the program also provides medical and mental health care to homeless children and families. He will see how "Idol Gives Back" funding is helping some of Dallas' neediest while visiting the clinic and performing for the families, many who benefit from these essential services.

Thanks to C A S T R O M A N I A C for the tip that this video from Jason's visit to the LA Times a couple months ago was finally up on LA Times.com

 

Did you miss the broadcast this morning? Not anymore.

EW.com's Michael Slezak is giving the CD a B+ and ...

FYI: The deluxe version, with six extra tracks, is well worth springing for.

Yup!

From the mouths of babes come better questions than I've heard from many a seasoned reporter.

ITunes Album Pop Chart:



ITunes Album General Chart:



Amazon Album General Chart:

More good press! Jason was interviewed by Rebecca for starcasm.com. Best site name ever.

Bananafish will likely love this:

Rebecca: Did you just get off of a tour?

Jason Castro: Yeah. I got back from the Philippines about a week or two ago which was the last thing we did. We did a little tour out there, which was amazing! It’s really unlike things are here, people are crazy I had bodyguards all the time. I’d go into malls and they’d have to shut down the stores, there were like hundreds of people peeking through the glass, it was just unreal, you know? Here I get recognized and stuff, but there it’s like mass pandemonium, it was really wild. It was like stepping into a different world. I saw my face on billboards on my way through the city! I didn’t know what was going on.

Another lovely quote:

In college I couldn’t play drums a lot so I picked up guitar just for the fun of it but then really fell in love with it and songs you know? I just fell in love with songs and the power of the song. I wanted to be the storyteller, you know? I wanted to sing so I could write those songs and that’s been my mission ever since.

And this one for McLovin:

but five years ago I wouldn’t even listen to the stuff that I do now because I was so into just heavy stuff and banging those drums, but since I’ve started reaching into the songwriting stuff like Jeff Buckley that really started to inspire me.

Read Rebecca's review also:

. It’s a hummable toe-tapper that takes you through the highs and lows of love with the playful, sunny quality of a spring breeze. It’s an album for anyone who’s ever felt the sweet, deep hope of love...

Check out this fun contest at JCM

To celebrate, let's have a little contest. Take a picture of yourself buying Jason's album and then upload it to this site. The best photo will get a signed poster from Jason! Get going people!!

You can watch the latest installment at JCM.

Wow!

Have you gotten your copy yet? The reviewers have.... Here's a round up of some articles,interviews and reviews, thanks to our forum detectives!

OMG! Yahoo asked Jason some personal questions about his music:

Us: What other life experiences inspired your album, which is largely made up of love songs?

JC: I didn’t set out with a theme or anything, but that's kind of my place in life right now. I am fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of love and [am] in love in a lot of ways. Since it's my first album and I started writing songs just right before Idol, I had a lot of life to look back on and pull from.

Shakefire asked 10 quick questions. We liked #10:

10. Which track should everyone hear off your new album "Jason Castro"?
you’re gonna make me pick one?! that’s impossible but this week my personal fave is "Heart of Mine"

The Boston Globe's Ken Capobianco gave the album a stellar endorsement:

His short, eight-song debut proves that he is an artist to be reckoned with, though. Instead of rushing out a record, he has defined his sound, developed his vocals, and written some strong love songs. The breezy, acoustic-based set, produced by Eric Rosse, is uncluttered and extremely melodic.

Houston's Chronicle gives the album 3 out of 4 stars:

There's spirit in his voice, and the songs crackle with energy. It's exactly the type of record you'd expect from the dreadlocked Aggie -- and a nice surprise at the same time. (Castro grew up in Rowlett, just outside Dallas.) Sunlight seems to stream from the CD case.

At FYE, Andrew Leahey of All Music writes:

Meanwhile, the tracks he did write bode well for Castro's future releases, with breezy melodies and lighthearted, summery arrangements that suit his voice well.

At AllMusic.com, he added:

As for the tracks that actually are his own…well, they’re passable at the very least, merrily memorable at the very best, and altogether fine indicators of the sound that Castro will likely pursue on future records.

Seattle Pi's Kirsten Coachman writes:

What is refreshing about Jason is that his album represents the same artist we got to know during his run on Idol.

CollegeCandy.com asks Jason "The 5 Questions We Ask Everyone", plus 5 more for Jason:

2. What are five things you cannot live without?
Well, I think I could just pull it off with one: if I just had a laptop and Internet. That is one thing I couldn’t live without. Probably my Kindle. I really love to read so as long as I can have books I could learn anything I ever needed to know. Let’s see, you know it would be nice to have a bed. And I really couldn’t live without my family, especially with what I do – traveling all the time. If I didn’t have somebody that was stable and solid I think I would be a very lonely person. Hmmmm, what else? Probably these jeans that I’m wearing.

Actually, these are a college memory! I got these jeans at the end of my freshman year in this big room where [everyone was] throwing stuff out that they didn’t want to take home. I went and looked through the junk and there were these jeans. I thought they looked awesome so I tried them on – perfect fit! It was like meant to be. But they were girl jeans – first pair I ever got.

Finally (phew), for now anyway, US Magazine reviewed the CD, giving it 3 stars out of some unknown quantity. We'll just assume 3 out of 3.

Check Jason's official site for a couple updates:

~ Jason will be appearing on The Ellen Show on April 22

~ Photo contest: You could win an autographed poster when you submit a photo of yourself with someone you're always there for.

Thanks to Purple Walrs for recording this and bananafish for sharing it. It's video shot of the tv, but junkies won't complain about the quality of unearthed footage, right?

Untitled from Purple Walrus on Vimeo.

Look after the jump to see People's review of Jason's CD in their print edition, and check People Online for an interview and streaming music.

So far so good!

Slezak gives it a B+:

The American Idol season 7 finalist's debut album comes on like an early spring day.

And US Weekly gives it 3 out of 4 stars.

Woohoo! Way to go Jason!

The second episode in the web series "That's What I'm Here For", in which Jason impersonates an art teacher, is now up on JCM here

The standard 8 song version of Jason's new CD is streaming on AOL today. Head over and listen and then come back and talk about it in our forum! Also, please post your comments on JCM here.

AceShowbiz asked Jason some questions about Idol and his music...

ASB: What is the biggest challenge to get this album done and what do you want to achieve in this album?

Jason: I want this album to be music for life. "When you need a little less or you want a little more, that's what I'm here for.."

JCM announced that in addition to the deluxe edition available through Amazon, you will be able to purchase a physical copy with all 14 songs at the venues on this tour. And yes, since I know you're asking, they will count towards total CD sales.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress ...