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'Idol' Castro misses his shot

BY VERNE GAY | verne.gay@newsday.com

May 8, 2008

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Few " American Idol" contestants can survive a Simon Cowell judgment that they're "utterly atrocious."

No, wait ... none can.

And so, we can finally say goodbye to Jason Castro.

Of all the dismissals this season, last night's was by far the most easily predicted - a slam dunk, in "Idol" terms. On Tuesday, Castro managed to mangle a pair of extremely famous songs - "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" (he forgot some words to the latter) - and so much so that even Paula, who never saw a performance she didn't like, was a little sour on him.

"You know what someone told me?" the always-good-humored Castro told Ryan Seacrest just moments before the ax fell. "I shot the tamborine man."

Castro has had a rough patch the past couple weeks ("September Morn," "Memory" from "Cats"). In fact, he had a rough patch the past couple months, or ever since the '80s theme night, when he aced Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and made this thing a competition. But Dallas-born Castro was different from anyone else: With the dreads and the laid-back, what-the-heck demeanor, he was the under-acheiver who suddenly and unexpectedly found himself in a pack of over-achievers. Nice kid, with plenty of charm and charisma, but with none of the killer instinct some of these others have displayed.

The field is now down to three. Two of them, David Cook and David Archuleta, are locked in a tight race to the finish line. Syesha Mercado of Bridgeport wasn't on anyone's short list for the final three. But there she is.

Can miracles still happen on the show? Probably not, but this final three is (with the possible exception of Carly Smithson) the best of the lot.