"American Idol" Jason Castro's Wacky Dreadhead Following

Jason Castro is the kid with the long dreads, oversized blue eyes and wide smile on this season "American Idol," and he's made it to the final five. Known for his well-received ukelele-strumming rendition, a la Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" a few weeks ago, he was less fortunate this week during Andrew Lloyd Webber week. But, as the LA Times reports (registration required), he has a loyal group of fans to cheer his spirits:

Jason Castro was having a rough week, and the dreadheads knew it. The loyal fan club, whose website daydreamingboy.com includes downloadable Support Jason fliers, watched Jason get slaughtered for his rendition of "Memory" and then learned from their sources in the Castro camp that he was coping with a mix of exhaustion and fever chills to boot.

So what were the devoted fans to do when their Idol was suffering from a high temperature and low morale? Why, send presents, of course. "We're always trying to think of things we can do to lift his spirits," explained Christalle Baxter, known to her fellow dreadheads as "dreadhead No. 1201."

Concerned that a gift of flowers could worsen Jason's illness by aggravating his allergies, the dreadheads settled on balloons. Christalle set up a Paypal account, and it wasn't long before the donations poured in.

Castro_gallery_190_2 In the end, the dreadheads collected $450 and ordered seven bouquets of balloons from Planet Florist in Westwood. According to Paul Psai, a designer at the florist, it took three cars to transport all the balloons. "It was the biggest order that we ever had."

Watch Jason sing "Memory":

And "Somewhere Over The Rainbow":

Comments

[loki]

This is a guy??? No way.. This looks to much like a girl..

[tomanjeri]

That guy or girl (no offense, I can't tell which from the picture) looks like a tool with Dreads.

[marcain]

Androgony in music has always attracted girls. David Cassidy was gay looking too. His hair is fine this way. He's supposed to appeal to middle school/ high school girls anyway. It's good to be different in the arts. Only has-been/never-been jealous, ugly, old guys would say anything negative. Unless he can't sing like is suggested by the comments here. But i wouldn't know, I don't watch A.I.

[brend]

He should have been the first one booted.

[ModerateLatino]

I disagree.

Brooke should have been the first one booted. THEN Jason.

Why are these weak singers still in the running?

[brend]

I can't image anyone following him anywhere.

[mabinog]

He looks like a Rastafarian Elf.

[Dissident Dexter]

more like a rasta travolta ala the vinny b. days of cotter

[Voltage]

I'm a 49 year old man with a 16 year old daughter and let me tell you the girls love him. Even my wife and I feel he's charming, a bit goofy, cute, and while his voice doesn't have a lot of range, he is pleasant to listen to. And really, some of the comments hear are filled with vitriol. C'mon folks, save it for Hillary/Obama while McCain dances all the way to the white house.

[pattyrenee]

Jason is a Texas A & M student. It takes a 1200 SAT to even get in the school.
He is not dumb. His voice is there, he just needs to let GO!
Gig um, Aggies!!!!!!!!!!! Vote for Jason, A & M!

[landoffools]

That's a guy ?

Senator Larry Craig will be knocking at his stall door !!!

[MissingAmerica]

Jason has talent, but not enough, or at least not the right type, for AI. He doesn't have the power or the range. His ALW song was dismal at best, almost laughable. It was time for him to go. It's sad that the public focused on Carly's song choice and not her talent. Jason should have been the one packing his bags.

[DrBehavior]

I believe that the problem with American Idol's contestants stems all the way back to the selection process. Remember, these people are chose from literally thousands who audition over a very short time span. The three 'judges' have to sit for interminable periods of time listening to individual after individual until, I'm absolutely certain, many of them, even the good ones, merge into a plethora of virtual nothingness. Then, those individuals selected to return are once again amidst many others who re-audition before 'judges' sitting for hours on end until inevitable even this second round of selectees must merge together for them. Finally, from this semi-final group there emerges a dozen individuals who will go on to perform before millions of people on world-wide television. The audition process, even for seasoned performers that are being chosen for a movie role and/or a starring role on Broadway tend to go through much more rigor in front of many more 'judges' than these potential contestants for American Idol. It's no wonder that each successive season the contestants have become less well prepared as well as much less adept at their singing. It's difficult to lay ultimate blame at the feet of these young individuals when in fact it's the 'judges' themselves that are to blame for choosing people to perform whilst they're half numbed with tiredness.

[SmolderingRuin]

God, he absolutely SUCKS!!!

[booksnmore4you]

He appears a little gender-confused.

[Sioen]

White boy dreads are really only sexy when the guy wearing them has got some dirt on him...

Jason is way too clean to pull it off, but he is awfully cute.

[ZombieKiller]

what a strange, strange looking man.