Jason Castro at the Santa Barbara Film Festival – VIDEO

He still gets me every time with that song – Beautiful! How exciting for Jason!

I love this. I just watched a version from further away, so this is awesome. I’m waiting for the Jason fans who went to wake up since apparently they were all hanging out with both Jason and Michael afterwards.

BTW, there were a few who questioned whether Jason would ever sing the “moved in you” verse, I supposed for religious reasons. This should answer that question.

I was just going to point that out brie200: Jason sang the “sex” verse y’all! Can we move on now?

Thank you very much, cookmerized and MJ. That was beautiful. Loved the video.

I believe that most of Jason’s fans will be thrilled to finally hear him sing that verse of the song but any verses that he sang would have been fine. He combined two verses that he had not sung before. Great job.

Did you go to the afterparty, cookmerized?

The video on the version MJ is posted is better, but the audio is much better on this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnPOZl39iUA

Thanks Cookmerized.

That was beautiful!

Jason’s new version of Hallelujah is breathtaking. He is truly settling into himself as an artist and entertainer. I think he will get a lot of notice from this performance (at the S.B. Film Festival). I can’t wait to hear the spanish version in the movie, Amar a Morir. Well done, Mr. Castro. Now…can we have that CD you promised?

Listen to how quiet the audience is! They’re really hanging on every word. Thanks for the other link brie, btw.

I love his voice. Really miss him.

ETA–You all must go over to the link that Brie200 put up. The audio is really good. Jason really builds the song as he goes. It’s such a good performance. (He has no showmanship though. When the people are applauding he kind of wanders off the stage. the bowing/the waving? He completely doesn’t get why performers do that afterward.)

wow. just wow! Too bad he wasn’t shown in the movie, singing that in a smoky bar. Can you imagine? I know Simon likes his new girl singing Hallelujah but in my mind, this is just so powerful in its simplicity. Nothing else needs to be said.

Wow. Amazing. That was simply incredible. Simply.
p.s. thanks for the link to the other clip (better sound).

I can’t wait to see the movie and to hear Jason’s voice in the movie.. One person described the scene when the song was playing in the movie and it seemed an awesome use of the song and of Jason’s voice.

I hope that the folks hanging out with Jason, Michael and their dad last night will wake up and start posting. LOL. It must have been great to meet some of the movie’s cast too. (If they did.) I want details.

I guess the soundtrack will be out in a few months. I want it now. LOL.

We (cookorhubbyhmm) and I did wander over to the after party. But before that we lingered at the theater and Jason was there holding court. It was very chill. He very graciously took pictures and answered questions. Mentioned something about seeing a movie in LA with Carly, but in typical Jason fashion he couldn’t remember what movie or its plot. He was charming and relaxed and definitely enjoying himself.

The venue was perfect for Jason. It was small and intimate and he was amazing. True, he didn’t chat up the audience, but I just think he didn’t feel like it was his place. It was the movie’s big night and he didn’t want to take the stage away. Speaking of the movie, you should all see it when/if it comes out in the states. It is really beautiful and Jason’s song appears at the most breathtaking part. The director and lead actor, btw, had nothing but incredible things to say about Jason and his professionalism. They didn’t watch AI but fell in love with his version of the song from youtube and were so thrilled when AI gave the clearance.

Oh yeah, Michael was there, too, with a white streak in his hair. I joked with him that they “let him out of LA for the night” and he said “um, maybe!”

Jason performs all 5 verses of the song.

MJ, did Jason sing 5 verses for the soundtrack?

I love this live version but I missed the “marble arch”verse that he didn’t sing Friday night. I guess it did not fit in with the movie.

Thanks for the recap, cookmerized. Sounds like a fun night. Glad that you could and did attend.

Jason should have sold couple of millions copies of this song already. I still can’t believe that chick from Xfactor sold nearly 1 millions copies in 1 week w/ that horrible version.

Thanks for the info cookmerized. Sounds like a great night.

I know khomphuong. It’s ludicrous to me that X factor girl sold 1 million copies. The simplicity is so much better.

What a beautiful rendition of this song. There is power in the simplicity. Well done, Jason!

I loved it. I just went straight to the one with the better audio.

Thanks for the report Cookmerized!

Loved it. Thanks for posting MJ. I miss Castro on my tv. :sad_tb:

Here’s a great article from Santa Barbara which clarifies how Hallelujah and Jason became part of the movie. Well worth reading.

http://www.independent.com/blogs/film-fest-2009/2009/jan/24/Amar-A-Morir/

Oops, posted the same link as Gabam.

When Jason sings, it feels like you are transported inside his body so that his heart can swallow your head.

He’s also a wonderful example of having your flaws make you special. He has very little breath control, which results in very unique phrases and breathing places– and somehow adds meaning to the lyrics.

Plus, the breathing alone makes his voice instantly identifiable.

The Santa Barbara article changed the URL to include Jason’s name. The one previously posted is no longer found. Here’s the new link to the article:

http://www.independent.com/blogs/film-fest-2009/2009/jan/24/Jason-Castro/

I finally got to hear this. I, like pj, went straight to the better sounding version. Thank you so much for posting mj! Also your recap was great cookmerized! Thanks! So Jason like. LOL at the comment to Michael. I can’t talk to hubby about this, he liked Michael and he doesn’t want to be “spoiled”. :down_tb:

This was beautiful. ghostwriter, I thought your post was very interesting. He definitely has a definable voice. Love it!

Jason, I’m ready to buy something from you!

Nice. Thanks.

Wow. That was stunning. Now I remember why I loved Jason on AI. When he connects emotionally to a song, he’s amazing and moving. Can’t wait for that album now! Will Hallelujah and/or the movie soundtrack be released for us to buy, do you think?

Siiiiiiggghhhh……..

Another video of Jason singing Hallelujah at premiere. Great audio and picture quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEqszkV80wA

Absolutely gorgeous in that “Jason” way.

Oh how I wish he would do a small venue tour….

Just lovely Jason Castro – you are wonderful. I cannot wait for your cd to come out – you are not abusing your “15 minutes of fame” – you are taking your time and in doing so I believe that your music will become timeless -

Time for Leanard Cohen to write a song just for Jason. Geez, I had to look him up in Wikipedia to make sure he is still alive.

It was such a pleasure to be there with Cookmerized. Amar a Morir was a beautiful movie. Hallelujah…particularly Jason’s version added soooo much to the film. Jason was gracious and sweet and genuinely pleased with his fans, and just with life in general. He just eludes contentment.

One fun tidbit…there were about 25 Castro fans that got there way ahead of time and stood in the rain around the building trying to get tickets. The doorman of the theatre was so impressed by this that he let them go in after those of us with platinum passes. I thought it was so cool that those Castro fans were able to get in to get good seats before the general ticket holders. They deserved it! Cookmerized and I are local so it was no problem for us to get there, but for those that traveled long distances to see Jason…I salute you!

I can’t wait to hear and see more from Jason in the future. I’m not well versed in his latest news etc., so I’m not sure when he plans to release a cd. But, I hope it’s soon!

Thank you, CookorHubbyHmm and Cookmerized for your kind comments. I’m happy that both of you enjoyed the movie and Jason. He’s working on his CD. Should be out in the spring. I can’t wait.