Idol Chatter: Castrotastrophe

Yes, there are sites that offer spoilers on "American Idol" performance days as to what songs each of the contestants are going to perform. And when JI read yesterday that Jason Castro was going to do the one-two punch of "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" - JI knew that we were in for something special.

Castro got the dreadlocks appropriately swinging in homage to Bob Marley, but really...it was just awful. Simon always yammers that certain songs shouldn't be redone because it's impossible for a singer to sound more than a pitiful interpretation of the original - and while usually I think he's just being petty, the critique is dead on here. Maybe, maybe he could have done something a little different with the melody to "Redemption Song" and gotten away with it - but "Sheriff" is just too iconic.

And next up is the song that William Shatner so memorably/hilariously/shoutily covered! If anything, just because the song has already been mocked into eternity, "Mr. Tambourine Man" was going to be even more of an uphill battle. And it was - thanks to Castro just flat out forgetting half the words to the song. (Props to the producers, however, for swinging around to catch the back of Castro instead of his face while he was vaguely humming and doing some sort of scat cat thing along to the tune instead of singing.)

So, yeah, that's it for Jason. Kinda sad, actually, since he was relentlessly stoner charming in the video segments. ("Bob Marley!!!!!?!") Whoooah.