Sin City is Snooze City for ‘Idol’ auditions

The twins — there are twins at every Idol audition — were Marnelli and Maureen Pearson. They were cute-as-a-button teenagers who shared a Walkman while waiting in line and wanted to make it onto the show as a tribute to their musician father. But after hearing them sing “Dreams” by The Cranberries, the judges decided that the dad had kept all the musical genes to himself.

Haggai Yedidya played the immigrant with plenty of heart and no talent. He wore an outfit with more American flags than a Fourth of July parade, but not much else to offer. He seemed earnest enough, but if any candidate turns out to be one of those stand-up comics who shows up to auditions as part of some random theater exercise, this was the guy.

Finally, there was Princess Brewer, who was this show’s contestant totally convinced that she was the next big thing, minus the talent. Describing herself as a blunt, sassy perfectionist, she sounded good in the interview, but didn’t give herself a chance with her voice. She wasn’t one of the worst this season, as Simon unkindly told her, but she wasn’t close to being good enough to move on.

Few make it through
If there was a star of the day, it was Mecca Madison, a belly-dancer with a nice voice and quiet confidence. Simon and Randy agreed that she had a better recording voice than a live voice, and Madison looked like she was trying to figure out if that was good news or bad, but either way it got her through to Hollywood.

Heather Ward came a long way from Salisbury, Maryland, to audition in Vegas, but the prison worker was rewarded with a ticket to the West Coast. Her audition was memorable for two moments; the fact that Paula was the dissenting vote and Simon’s fascination with handcuffs.

“I’m usually the one who does the handcuffs,” Simon said, after hearing Ward say that she’d brought her set along. Apparently he felt free to ignore Paula’s earlier plea that “Idol” was a family show.

Finally, there was gray-haired Taylor Hicks, who made it to Hollywood despite the fact that he looked like somebody’s father who wandered onto the set and was given a number by mistake.

Regardless of his appearance, Hicks had one of the best voices of the night and reminded Randy of Joe Cocker and Ray Charles, both legendary singers but neither of whom would have been favorites on “Idol.” Despite Simon’s dissent, Paula and Randy pushed Hicks onto Hollywood.

And that was just about it. Only 11 of the hopefuls got their golden tickets to Hollywood, proving the adage that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Craig Berman lives in Washington, D.C. and is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com.

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