First

A local alumna brings real university experience to TV, Delaware's Johnny Cash, a shutterbug creates a new landscape for Wilmington, little old Arden influences Richard Julian's latest album, and more.

Must See UD
A local alumna brings real university experience to the fictional college world of “Greek.”

Not often does someone pine for the frigid, drizzly gloom of winter in Delaware—especially not over the cheery perma-warmth of Hollywood.

Dilshad Vadsaria does. The University of Delaware graduate is stuck in sunshine and 80-degree weather this month for the season premier of “Greek,” the ABC Family drama in which she stars.

“I love the cold. I get so happy when it’s gloomy and rainy here,” she says. “Suddenly I relate to the Addams Family a lot better.”

Vadsaria attended UD on the fast track to medical school, but plunged into acting soon after graduation. After a few appearances in student films and off-Broadway productions, she landed a prominent role in “Greek,” a fledgling teen drama for the ABC Family network about college kids in Greek organizations.

The second season of “Greek”—which follows a cadre of photogenic freshmen at fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University—adds depth to Vadsaria’s character Rebecca Logan, the mischievous, privileged and seductive daughter of a U.S. senator. In the first season, she slept with a main character’s boyfriend and left a cloud of mayhem in her wake. She became the unquestioned villain of Zeta Beta Zeta sorority.

Of course, Vadsaria probably saw much more debauchery during her four years at UD. She remembers fondly the infamous Caesar Rodney freshman dormitories, as well as Klondike Kate’s and the late Stone Balloon.

But the stunning Vadsaria, who was born in Pakistan, had to devote most of her time at UD toward her biology major and her part-time job as a telemarketer. After four years, she was burnt out.

“I was always supposed to be a doctor,” she says. “When it came time to study for the MCATs, it was a barrier that nothing could get through. It just wasn’t happening.”

The American Medical Association’s loss is Zeta Beta Zeta’s gain. —Matt Amis

Todd Chappelle

He’s from Delaware, Man
A local troubador’s Johnny Cash parody becomes a sensation.

By now, any Delawarean with Internet access has received a mass email with the song “I’m from Delaware” attached. Between family, friends and coworkers, some have received the ditty two and three times.

Sung to the melody of the “I’ve Been Everywhere”—the famously catchy tune covered by Johnny Cash and others—the Delaware version inventories local towns while celebrating local events and places, such as The Deer Park, Green Room, Punkin’ Chunkin’, Dover Downs and Charcoal Pit.

But those aren’t the lyrics that will stick like Gorilla Glue to your mind. Instead, you’ll be singing, “I’m from Delaware, man, I’m from Delaware. Traffic’s bad out there, man. I ain’t going nowhere. I like polluted air, man. I’m from Delaware.”

The song has catapulted Chadds Ford resident Todd Chappelle, 38, into the local limelight. Chappelle, a Wilmington accountant and part-time musician, and his wife, Anne, wrote the lyrics. Chappelle sings vocals and rhythm guitar, and Peter Scobell plays lead.

DT: So, are you from Delaware?

TC: I was born in New York. My dad is from Dover. My mom is from Harrington. All my relatives are in Dover. I went to the University of Delaware—and never went back home.

DT: What gave you the idea?

TC: A TV commercial for a hotel chain that uses the Johnny Cash version. I’ve always loved that song. A light went off in my head: “I’ve been everywhere. I’m from Delaware.” My wife and I sat down at the table with a map of Delaware and made lists of places we could fit into a song. We started thinking of Delaware culture. Then we started thinking of the bars we went to. By the time we were done, we had four verses.

DT: You could have had more verses.

TC: Since I first wrote the song, I wrote another verse. I started getting emails from people, “Hey, you missed my town.” I have a live version with the extra verse that I’m putting on my CD.

DT: How many towns did you mention?

TC: In the original song, there are 46 towns. I’ve been to more than half of them. There’s a few deep in Sussex County where I don’t think I’ve been. I added 19 more.

DT: Did you have to pay royalties?

TC: I paid them to the Harry Fox Agency. It wasn’t very much, but it was worth it.

DT: So, you’re famous now.

TC: Well, in Delaware. I mailed it out to a few people and said, “Go ahead and forward it.” I’m thrilled and I’m honored that people like it.

DT: What’s the best part?

TC: It’s touched a nerve with so many people. It’s gone a lot further than I would have thought. I’ve been on about half a dozen radio stations, and I’ve done live interviews on two of them.

DT: What’s next?

TC: “I’m from Maryland.” (Anne Chappelle is from Maryland.)

To hear the song and learn about buying the CD, visit www.myspace.com/toddchappelle. — Pam George

This untitled piece includes London City Hall
and Barclays’ two buildings on the Wilmington Riverfront.

Photo Realism
Shutterbug Terence Roberts creates a new landscape for Wilmington—and London.

Terence Roberts is such a fixture in Wilmington’s corporate offices, you’d think he was on the Forbes 400 list. But he’s no tycoon—he’s an artist.

Roberts’ work is featured inside the offices of the area’s biggest businesses—AstraZeneca, Merrill Lynch, PECO Energy, Bank One and more.

His latest and greatest works—in scale, at least—are 13 complex digital composites that hang in the Barclays building on the Wilmington Riverfront. The largest—5 feet by 18 feet—seamlessly blends more than 50 images from around the city and from around London, where the bank headquarters is located.

“I’m working in a digital environment,” says Roberts. “I’m going for a landscape that is almost believable, but not quite.”

To create the images, Roberts photographed both Barclays buildings on the waterfront, as well as the Nemours Building, where Barclays’ credit card operation germinated. He then snapped pics of local landmarks, significant architecture, and bridges from around Wilmington and London.

By manipulating the scale and perspective of the images, then blending them via a souped-up computer, Roberts created a seamless, though virtual, landscape. For example, the Tower Bridge in London segues to the roof at Longwood Gardens Conservatory.

“This is my largest project to date, in terms of the finances involved and the size of the piece—and probably the most challenging,” Roberts says. “I had to upgrade my computer system to handle the file size.”

For inspiration, Roberts, 54, studied the works of Dutch artist-illusionist M.C. Escher, but he’s also a bit of a “Where’s Waldo?” buff. He likes to hide images in his composites. In the work at Barclays, an inch-high astronaut floats in the star field above the Tower Bridge. “I think people enjoy these works in part because they can explore and there are so many things to find in them,” Roberts says. “I want them complex enough so they will last.”

You can also see his work at Wilmington’s Gallery 919 this month.

—Matt Amis

Greg Ballance tries his new Jeep on for size.

Lucky 13^th
For one golfer, the timing couldn’t have been better for a hole-in-one.

Greg Ballance is a swell husband.

The morning after the transmission blew on his wife’s Lexus, Ballance left his home in Middletown to play in a charity golf tournament at the beach. He promptly hit a hole-in-one to snag a new $30,000 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

Ballance, a co-founder of Diamond Technologies in New Castle, pegged a 175-yard drive into the cup on the par-3 13th at Kings Creek Country Club to win the Jeep. It was the first ace of Ballance’s less-than-storied golf career. He’s played for 15 years, but, until recently, only three or four times a year. He estimates his handicap at 16.

The super shot came September 21 during the annual state Chamber Chase Golf Tournament. The excitement of winning a new car made Ballance and the rest of his foursome as giddy as schoolgirls at a Zac Efron movie. When the ball disappeared into the hole, the men tossed their clubs into the air, grabbed each other, then hopped around in circles.

They also flagged down the beverage cart and toasted the accomplishment on the green.

“It took 15 minutes to get to the next hole—and three more holes to calm ourselves down,” Ballance says. “It was like little kids jumping around, like we won the World Series.”

Ballance’s shot wasn’t all luck, however.

“There’s definitely some skill that goes into it,” says Kings Creek pro Kevin Wiest, proud owner of a single hole-in-one. “It’s a combination of skill and luck. I’m sure the odds go up [when you’re playing a prize hole]. How many times do you play a par 3 when they’re giving away a new car? There were four other par 3s that day where they weren’t giving anything like a car out.”

Only nine members have aced No. 13 during Kings Creek’s 17-year history. (The club only keeps records only of members’ play.)

Ballance and Company won the tournament by one shot. They each received $75 credit to spend in the pro shop—and a moment they’ll never forget. —Drew Ostroski

The Camera Never Lies
Look as sexy as you want for whoever you want with a unique style of photography.

If ya’ got it, flaunt it. Then photograph it. But leave your hotness to a pro like boudoir photographer Peggy Ford, of Montgomery Ford Photography.

Shy? Don’t be. Ford’s been in the bedroom, so to speak, since 1987. “I encourage women to come in for a consultation, and our studio is in-home, non-threatening and really intimate,” she says. “Since I’m female, women can talk about the kinds of outfits they feel comfortable in.”

Wear whatever floats your—or your partner’s—boat. Ford has worked with myriad props and clothing choices, including firemen’s gear, football jerseys, teddies and birthday suits. A banker’s wife posed atop thousands of one-dollar bills wearing a bikini and a straw hat.

Ford doesn’t shoot Victoria’s Secret models. Her goal is to produce sexy images of real women. Some are thin, some are plus-sized, most are in-between. The oldest patron is 75. The youngest is 22.

If 20 years in the biz has taught Ford anything, it’s who truly benefits from her work. “The women say they do it as gifts for husbands or boyfriends,” she says. “I remind them they’re doing it for themselves.”

Because, she says, photographs last forever. “The shots will be cherished for many years down the road, even when the boyfriend might be long gone—maybe even the husband.”

Contact Montgomery Ford Photography at 475-2424 or www.montgomeryford.com. —Maria Hess

Richard Julian’s latest album is due out this month.
Photograph by Michael Halsband

You Can Go Home Again
New York transplant Richard Julian says Arden informs the writing on his major-label release.

Richard Julian’s songs are like audio diary entries.

On “If You Stay” from his new album, the Arden native sings, “It’s not heaven, but it’s home.”

“I’m just a guy living my life,” Julian says. “Whatever I write about is going to have themes of what I’m going through. I guess you could say I come from that confessional school of writing.”

Julian returns with his second major-label album, “Sunday Morning in Saturday’s Shoes” this month after three independent-label releases and his 2006 major-label debut “Slow New York.” For his new album, Julian recorded with renowned producer Mitchell Froom, who has worked with Los Lobos, Crowded House and Elvis Costello.

The result is a quiet, stirring, bare-knuckled record that features live-in-studio performances of Julian with his rhythm section.

Julian, who Entertainment Weekly likened to a “young Springsteen during his acoustic Jersey-boy period,” is an Arden boy at heart. Though he lives in New York now, he occasionally visits his hometown for gigs, especially Arden’s Gild Hall. The small, artisan-laden town has long held a reputation for being a bit offbeat. Maybe it’s deserved, Julian says.

“It’s funny. Arden always had this weird reputation. When I lived there, people thought it was a party destination because all the high school kids would go to this spot in the woods and get high,” he says. “I guess Arden as a whole represents something bohemian in Delaware. They’re not into keeping up with the Joneses.”

Well, maybe one Jones. Julian collaborates frequently with Grammy-winner Norah Jones. The two formed a country-tinged super group of sorts called the Little Willies in 2006.

“We got together and played these gigs really late, just fun stuff of all the songs we dug,” Julian says. “It developed into us making a record.”

Not too shabby for a guy from Delaware’s bohemia. Arden’s no heaven, but it is Julian’s home. —Matt Amis

Francis Pileggi’s blog is big with leading legal experts.
Photograph by Amanda Waid

Bloggable Hours
A Wilmington lawyer finds his niche in a blawg-eat-blawg world.

It’s a safe bet that Francis Pileggi is the only corporate attorney in Delaware who is also a genuine Kentucky Colonel.

But Pileggi, a partner at Fox Rothschild in Wilmington, is better known for his legal Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog, where he regularly summarizes decisions from the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court, then posts them at www.delawarelitigation.com.

And he does it for free.

“Why do some people play the piano, jog or lift weights?” Pileggi says. “It’s fun, and it’s a service to others.”

It also helps him rack up Google postings and hits, which doesn’t hurt business.

“People often go to Google to find out about a particular lawyer,” he says. “The first thing that comes up in a search is a blog because they are updated frequently and they have a lot of repetitive information. Any smart lawyer would want to have some influence over his Internet presence.”

Pileggi started blogging two years ago, after he noticed an increasing number of blogs—also known as “blawgs”—published by professors of corporate law. A frequent contributor to legal trade publications, Pileggi figured he’d give it a shot.

His summaries serve as an unofficial archive, but they have also become popular with other attorneys and with some of the country’s leading legal experts, including Professor Stephen Bainbridge of the UCLA School of Law.

“(Bainbridge) posted on his blog that anyone interested in Delaware corporate law needs to read my blog,” says Pileggi. “I couldn’t have paid him to say it any better.”

Between his demanding day job and blogging, one wonders how Pileggi finds time to fulfill his duties as a Kentucky Colonel. The honor was bestowed upon him by the governor for public service.

“I didn’t even know what it is. I had to Google it,” Pileggi says. “The equivalent would be—I don’t know if there is any equivalent. It’s a conversation starter. People ask me if I have the recipe.”
—Drew Ostroski