TV

At the end of every performance show, I like to tally up who did the best, the so-so and the worst. (I don't just do this for my own entertainment; it helps me figure out what to say in my recap story.) :)
Here's how I think they did with tonight's extremely challenging theme:
BEST:
Syesha (It was so entertaining, in fact, that it reminded me a bit of Kelly Clarkson's much-beloved rendition of "Stuff Like That There.")
The two Davids

SO-SO:
Carly (I kind of think the song got away from her during the chorus)
Jason

WORST (I'm intentionally putting just one person in this category tonight):
Brooke. "You must love me," she sang with earnestness. Well, I don't. Am officially over her.

I thought the song was kinda boring. Then again, I'm thinking all of these songs are boring. (Good thing there was lots of drama to spice things up tonight! I enjoyed Mr. Webber's cattiness.)

I'm stunned by how easy Randy and Simon were on her for starting over. Simon even called it "a very brave thing to do." Huh!? I say it's a very unprofessional thing to do (especially because she's done it twice! It's her "thing"), but that's just me.

Disastrous. I wonder if she thinks she's some sort of Streisand-caliber diva, choosing to start her song over on live TV. Again!
I loved Paula's succinct comment: "You must never start and stop."

Simon said Jason's rendition of "Memory" felt like the longest two minutes of his life, but I don't think it was that awkward. (A bit awkward, yes.) Still, I think he'll be OK with voters for two reasons:
- He was so cute and funny in his intro clip. It was with perfect comic timing that he said, "I didn't know what it was about -- I didn't know a cat was singin' it." For voters swayed by likabilty, he wins big.
- This isn't his style of music, and his fans know it. They'll probably dial in droves for that very reason.

Just wanted to pass along a part of the Jason Castro story (in today's paper) that had to get cut for space. My editor wisely suggested I put some of the fun yet omitted-for-space stuff here. Where there is nothing but space!
I liked what this anecdote says about the kind of person he is:

ROCKWALL -- Life has become a bit more complicated for the laid-back Jason Castro.
Family friend Stephanie Baisey recently flew out to see the Rockwall resident in Los Angeles , where he's one of the remaining six contestants on American Idol. It was unusually cold the day they got to hang out, so Ms. Baisey decided to run into Ross to buy a sweatshirt.
"He said, 'I want to get a sweatshirt, too,'." says Ms. Baisey, whose daughter is a close friend of the singer. "I said, 'Jason, this is going to take us forever.'."
His reply: "Nobody's going to know me at Ross."
Of course, he was mistaken. As soon as they walked into the store, a crowd instantly glommed onto him.
"I said, 'What size sweatshirt do you want? I'll see you later,'." Ms. Baisey recalls with a laugh. "He doesn't fully understand the scope of how big his name is."
But here's where his mellow style comes in handy: Rather than taking an uptight, "I can't even go to Ross!" attitude, Mr. Castro simply hung out with the kids in the store, including one who had a soccer ball.
"He started kicking the ball back and forth with them inside the store," Ms. Baisey says. "People were taking pictures; all I could hear was, 'Click, click, click, click.'."

ROCKWALL - The crowd that gathers on most Tuesday nights at the new Hilton Hotel in Rockwall is on a mission.

Sure, they're surrounded by balloons, large TV screens and much laughter, but this is serious business. The 350 or so people are there to watch local Jason Castro perform on American Idol - and then to get him through to the next round.

Read more.

Video: Castromania at the Hilton in Rockwall