'Tuneless Tim:' Dodges Bullet with 'Stoned' Version of 'Under My Thumb'

American Idol fans once again demonstrated their stupidity and lack of musical taste by not booting Tim Urban off the March 17 show.  Urban not only cannot sing, he has no stage presence and apparently no clue that his ill-advised reggae rendition of the Stones' "Under My Thumb," would have been high-camp theater - if Tim were smart enough to be in on the joke.

Talk about emasculating a song!  Tim turned one of the nastiest male chauvenistic songs of all time into a campfire sing-along ditty for nerds.  It's a crime how Idol judges blow smoke up some dumb kid's butt and let him demonstrate his lack of musical acuity in front of millions of people - for his 15 minutes of fleeting and unforgiving fame/infamy. Someone should just be kind and tell the kid the truth:  Tim, unless you learn how to play your guitar better or learn how to engineer, you have absolutely no future in music.

And while I didn't lose any sleep over Lacey Brown getting the boot for her limp version of "Ruby Tuesday,"
 it was a crime that Paige Miles was in last night's bottom three.  It's true that she butchered Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" last week.  But this week, despite suffering from laryngitis, Paige delivered a strong Tina Turner-esque version of "Honkytonk Women." I think Paige should stay in this blusey-rock genre, because her voice is highly identifiable in that genre, but loses its distinctive quality in R&B pop, where she sounds like a hundred other singers.  But this girl, flat out has the best voice and pitch of anyone in the contest.  She just hasn't been too smart in her song selection.

Also, despite his transgender mangling of "Weinie in a Bottle" and complete misinterpretation of the Stones "Gimme Shelter," Andrew Garcia somehow escaped the bottom three - where he rightfully belonged with Tim, Lacey and Big Mike.  Or, with Tim, Lacey and Didi.

Siobhan Magnus showed she is a force to be reckoned with - with her dramatic, show-stopping delivery of "Paint it Black," demonstrating an artistry reminiscent of Annie Lennox at the top of her game.  Siobhan also was one of the few singers who showed an understanding of any of the Stones' songs - most of which were written 40 years before any of the AI singers were born.

My early-on favorites to win the AI title are:  Siobhan in the women's category - and young Aaron in the men's, closely followed by Casey and Lee, in that order.

But considering that Idol fans are predominantly prepubescent girls, driven by their hormones and not any semblence of musical understanding or taste, they could pick Casey, Lee or God forbid, Big Mike as this year's winner.

And that's our view from "The A&R Room."  We welcome your thoughts.