Will Fil-Am Jessica Sanchez be the next ‘American Idol’?

JESSICA Sanchez: Judges gave her a standing ovation.

LOS ANGELES — Will Jessica Sanchez, the spunky girl from San Diego, California, who’s gifted with a powerful voice and soulful singing style, be the first contestant of Filipino heritage to win “American Idol”?

Reaction by “AI” media experts, bloggers and audiences—and even the show’s judges, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler—to Jessica, who is also part Mexican, has been unprecedented. The high school student, who joined “America’s Got Talent” at age 11, was unanimously praised and received.

Newsday’s Jamshid Mousavinez had ranked Jessica No. 1 among the finalists and gushed: “Jessica Sanchez, favored by many to win it all, has the complete package—great voice, natural stage presence and that X-factor that forces you to keep watching whenever she’s performing. Cannot wait to see what she does each week!”

EDITHA Sanchez, Jessica’s mother. Photo by Elgeen Nepales

“AI” blogger Sabrina Cognata, raved: “Jess blew us the eff away when she belted out Jennifer Hudson’s version of ‘Love You I Do’ from ‘Dreamgirls.’ Like, why even go on with the remaining 352 weeks of this season? Jessica is the winner, period, end of sentence. Let’s not drag this thing out any longer than we have to.”

Jessica, the youngest finalist along with Shannon Magrane, listed “fun facts about her” in a FOX press release: “I can rap; I love video games; I have more than 30 pairs of shoes.” Her mother’s family is from Bataan and Manila. One of the Filipino singers she admires is Sarah Geronimo.

We predict that Jessica will do even better next week when she and her fellow Top 13 finalists will be mentored by Mary J. Blige. In that show celebrating “AI’s” 400th episode, Jessica will likely soar when she and the female contestants pay tribute to the late Whitney Houston (the male finalists will sing from Stevie Wonder’s catalogue).

PAINTINGS by Tony DeZuñiga, who co-created Jonah Hex, which was adapted into a Hollywood movie, and Black Orchid, will be exhibited at the GSIS Museo ng Sining. Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Pioneering Pinoy

Tony DeZuñiga, pioneering Filipino artist at DC and Marvel Comics, will hold his first major show of works that are not comic book art. The co-creator of Jonah Hex—portrayed by Josh Brolin in a movie adaptation—dabbles in painting.

Tony, who now lives in the Philippines but often travels overseas because he is a draw at comic book conventions, told me via e-mail about his show, “Fine Lines, Shades and Colors: The Art of Tony DeZuñiga,” which opens tomorrow, March 5, at the GSIS Museo ng Sining.

Tony is primarily a comic book artist who drew most of the superheroes, including Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and the X-Men in a prolific career that began in the 1960s, but he has also won awards for his paintings in the United States.

An affable guy with a great sense of humor, Tony wrote that, for the GSIS show, he had painted “landscapes, portraits, mother and child and anything that came to my mind” in pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic and oil. He said he loved being back home in the Philippines.

The exhibit runs until April 7. Tony’s guests for tomorrow’s opening at 6 p.m. are National Artist BenCab, Rep. Mark Villar and Pilita Corrales.

The co-creator of Black Orchid, who also worked on the “Star Wars” comic books and other series, said that he was set to attend comic conventions in Australia, Italy, and Aviles and Granada in Spain this year. Last year, Tony, who has a huge following, was a guest at conventions in Alberta, Canada and Madrid, Spain, and the San Diego International Comic Convention where he was featured along with other Filipino comic book artists.

An interesting highlight in the University of Santo Tomas alumnus’ career is that, in the late 1980s, Tony worked for Sega as its main conceptual designer for video games. He retired from Sega in the late 1990s.