William, we hardly knew ye. In fact, all we really got to know about the departed Democratic Senate candidate, State Rep. William Tong (D-147), was his oft repeated tale about his father’s arrival in the United States with 57 cents in his pocket, and how his hard work at Chinese restaurants enabled him to send son William to a fancy prep school and the Ivy League.It was a good story but it was told so often, it overwhelmed anything the candidate might have put forth on why he, rather than his better known opponents, should be the Democratic candidate for senator. Tong’s father, a spry looking gentleman, probably no older than John McCain, was in the audience for his son’s withdrawal announcement, leading one to wonder if maybe he should have been the candidate.Note to candidates: Repeating stories about your humble roots took a bad turn with John Edwards and his never ending reminder that he was the son of a mill worker. It turns out he’ll be remembered for more dramatic things and I’m not talking about having been John Kerry’s vice president.Nobody really cares about who a candidate’s father was. If voters cared, they never would have elected Joe Kennedy’s boy John. This goes for Linda McMahon, the wealthy wrestling mogul, who is already running a commercial depicting her poverty stricken roots on Tobacco Road, and Chris Murphy, who boasts his mother grew up in a New Britain housing project although he grew up in a wealthy suburb. Admittedly, there is merit in Mr. Tong’s American story but there would have been more to his campaign if he had let us know why this unknown was preferable to run-of-the-mill Democratic waiters of their turn like Chris Murphy and Susan Bysiewicz, his principal opponents.Tong was onto something when he criticized Murphy for his support of financial industry-friendly loopholes in legislation aimed at reforming the Wall Street excesses that so damaged the economy but he never pressed the issue. Bysiewicz has been tougher on Wall Street than Murphy, who has received around $250,000 from the securities and investment industries and at least as much from the lawyers, lobbyists and others allied with them. That’s a large chunk of his support to date.Otherwise, as George Wallace liked to say about his fellow Democrats, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them.In their debates, as the Connecticut Mirror (www.ctmirror.org) pointed out after one of them last month, the two and Tong espoused remarkably similar, Democratic talking point-positions on:The need for quick troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is happening, but what about building the nation until 2024;Preserving any portions of President Obama’s health-care reform that may be struck down by the Supreme Court before we know what these provisions are and why they are being struck down;Promoting renewable energy sources to reduce dependence on foreign and domestically produced oil, a truly courageous stand;Maintaining low interest loans for college students, loved by Obama and Romney;Ensuring that more affordable refinancing options are available for Americans with steep mortgage payments, without saying what they are.The Mirror pointed out they did vary somewhat in their positions on jobs but there’s no need to take more space as these positions will never amount to more than positions. The Republican situation is similar, only with Republican talking points about jobs and taxes. Chris Shays, who has two decades in Congress going for him, but is too liberal for many members of his party, spent time in the last GOP debate going over the old tale about McMahon spending $50 million to buy her own election, but not win it, when she ran against Dick Blumenthal two years ago.McMahon petulantly replied it was her own money and she earned it and could do anything she wanted with it.So here we are, facing a race for what amounts to a lifetime job in the Senate with both parties offering candidates in this substance-free campaign who are most likely to make voters with some history long for the days of senators like Abe and Lowell.If the election were held today, it would be between Murphy and McMahon, with Murphy likely to win (today) and join Blumenthal, who still behaves as if he’s attorney general, in the Senate. I’m too thrilled to go on. Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. Email him at dahles@hotmail.com.
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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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