There were several ways of ending a game when I was a kid. Stickball was a popular pastime when you had enough bodies. All it required was a rubber ball and a broomstick handle. The bases were cars, fire hydrants and a manhole cover. The ball was pitched underhand, on a bounce, different effects being imparted by spinning the ball with the flick of one finger upon release so that when it bounced it darted to one side, or slowed down or sped up, depending upon which way you made it spin. I can still do this. I can’t remember how to rhumba, but I can do this.You might think the game would be over after nine innings. Not so. Although we were using a relatively harmless missile, for some reason there were always neighbors who objected to us winging this thing all over the neighborhood and throwing ourselves against their cars in an effort to beat the throw to the car-base. This resulted in the “Game Called on Account of Cops” ending. A patrol car would swoop in and the bat would be confiscated. If we were forewarned, even by a few seconds, we could forestall this ending by chucking the bat under a car and sticking the ball in our pocket.“What? Oh we are just having a cappella practice officers. Nobody playing stick ball around here today.”Loss of ball was another ending. A power hitter with lousy control could put the ball on the roof of the theater across the street or into old Mr. Thompson’s yard. Thompson had a Doberman Pincher on a long chain. Of course nobody had another ball. We never thought that far ahead. This was to be a recurring theme.There was termination by bully. Every so often a couple of big guys from another street would happen by and see us having fun, which could not be allowed. It is in the bully code. They would start by demanding a turn at bat. It usually ended with them either hitting the ball onto that roof on purpose, or they would just walk off with the bat while laughing. If you had your own bully they would not do this. However, your bully had to be the pitcher, hogging the ball on every play and pinch-hitting for anybody he thought could not hit the ball, often batting on every other turn.Too dark to see the ball? For some reason it never occurred to us to figure out if there was enough time to play a whole game. If we felt like playing, we just started, then acted surprised when we found ourselves swinging our bats at bats instead of the ball.There’s that theme again.Bill Abrams resides, and still takes to the streets with stick and ball every so often, in Pine Plains.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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