Vegas Baby!! It’s Vegas night on American Idol, and oh, are the “stars” out tonight!

Ok, maybe “stars” is a bit of an exaggeration. Would you give me that the characters are out tonight? Because the characters certainly came out. Do these people who come in costumes honestly think it is a good idea? Of course, the “Jamaican” from Bakersfield (because, in the immortal words of Paula Abdul, “that’s where all the Jamaican’s are from”) broke down in the confession booth afterward. As they say, hindsight is 20-20.

Speaking of Paula Abdul, she was far more “edgier” tonight. I like that – I don’t think that she needs to always be sticky-sweet and complement the contestants. I’ve heard her interviewed before, and she often says that she feels like she needs to balance out Simon and Randy, because “they’re just kids.” But at this point in the show, they have got to know that if they’re not good, Simon WILL be harsh. And if they just had a friend or two who would tell them the truth about their lack of talent, well, they could save us a whole lot of trouble.

And there really was a lot of trouble tonight. The “shouter” who used quite a bit of profanity afterwards. And the fortune teller who returned with her sister (who also couldn’t sing). How about Anthony, the guy who has 75 (did I hear that right? 75??) animals in his apartment. And of course, Haggai, who, in his American flag shirt, claimed he had “perfect pitch.”

It also seems like Ryan is getting tired of the characters as well. Is it just me, or did it seem like he just was losing patience?

There were a few good singers tonight. I liked Mecca, the belly dancer who looked a LOT younger than she was – her voice had a great quality to it. And I liked Heather, the girl who worked at a prison. But really, that was about it. There was much more focus on the bad singers, mainly because there were so many of them (I think they said only 13 singers got through to Hollywood?). Is it wrong that I’m happy that this stage of the auditions are almost done?...