I Was Thinking Jason Castro. Yeah!

Last night I used my cell phone and my brand new Go Phone with unlimited texting (thank you, Best Buy) to vote for Jason Castro for two hours. I would have voted with my laptop, too, but even my computer genius son cannot figure out how to get Dial Idol to work with our digital phone line.

Even before I first read the play-by-play by those wonderful folks at Castrocopia who get to watch American Idol three hours before I do, yesterday was an usually long and stressful day for me. My handicapped brother who lives with us was sick with severe pain, a high fever, and blood coming from places that a sister just doesn't want to look at. Although he is sixteen years my elder, I feel almost maternal toward him and it hurts me to my soul to see him suffer.

But as I voted two-handedly with all the energy I could muster, yawning in solidarity with Jason, you know what I was thinking? I was thinking Jason Castro. Yeah! So I couldn't help but smile, a feeling of calm settling on my bruised heart, and I kept voting.

From his first televised performance, Daydream, until the last falsetto note of Mr. Tambourine Man, Jason has remained true to the heart of music celebrated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In choosing to honor two of its most daring pioneers, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, Jason was faithful to rock’s spirit of musical rebellion. Knowing that the PaulaGate 2008 firing squad would be locked and loaded this week, it would have been so easy and even tempting for Jason to pick two safe songs approximating the feel good, easy listening vibe of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Instead, he risked everything on I Shot the Sheriff, finally revealing and reveling in that music loving mojo on display in his pre-AI videos that turned new fans into devout followers. He stepped way outside his comfort zone and, arms outstretched, invited us all inside, even the firing squad. I would expect nothing less from a self-taught guitarist who earlier in the season was brave and ballsy enough to debut his one-week-old ukulele skills on international television.

Jason's stripped down Mr. Tambourine Man was just lovely, but he is not responsible for Bandzilla's desecration of what is arguably the seminal song that spawned a reggae revolution. It was grossly unfair – but hardly surprising – for the firing squad to blame Jason for the band's bluesy interpretation of I Shot the Sheriff. For a brief moment before Jason's vocal began, I could have sworn they borrowed the intro from one of Elliott Yamin's arrangements in season five.

If you think Jason doesn’t care about his performance any more or never did, you aren’t paying close enough attention. Jason’s nerves manifest in his falsetto and his vibrato. This week both belied his otherwise serene demeanor. The shaky falsetto finish to Mr. Tambourine Man in AI week 12 is reminiscent of the broken falsetto ending on Hallelujah in week 3. Those songs bookend a string of increasingly self-assured outings that featured a tamed vibrato and absolutely gorgeous falsetto, which suggests the confidence that imbued his renditions of Fragile, I Don't Wanna Cry and even Forever in Blue Jeans was shaken to the core. He was still as pitch perfect as ever, but his first lyrical lapse of the competition was further evidence of his emotional vulnerability to the AI mind games.

I've been doing some serious thinking. I don’t know Jason Castro and I am old enough to be his mother, but it hurts me to my soul to see him suffer. So why did I double my votes for him, knowing what it may cost him to stand before the firing squad another week? I was thinking Jason Castro. I want his ruby red slippers to take him back to Texas this week for the homecoming of a lifetime.

Which AI7 contestant shares my passion for music and respects its power to change lives? I was thinking Jason Castro.

Which contestant in this season of American Idol – heck, in the history of the show – best represents my musical sensibility? I was thinking Jason Castro.

Which contestant has treated American Idol with exactly the modicum of respect that a manipulative machine devoid of heart and real soul deserves? I was thinking Jason Castro.

Which contestant got me to purchase my first ever Mariah Carey tune and my least favorite Neil Diamond composition? I was thinking Jason Castro.

Which contestant inspires me to buy a Go Phone, revive my sleepy blog, buy singles on iTunes, and do whatever is necessary – raise money, start a petition, whatever – to get him a recording contract? I was thinking Jason Castro.

Which contestant will be entertaining his audience long after the American Idol franchise collapses under the weight of its own emptiness? I was thinking Jason Castro – and I bet I'll be thinking Jason Castro for years to come. Yeah!