Anyone who watched a press conference held by Gov. Dannel Malloy with Connecticut Light & Power President and CEO Jeffrey Butler Tuesday evening saw an embarrassing display‚ not by Malloy and Butler‚ but by members of the media, whose argumentative questions might lead you to believe it was the governor and CL&P who conspired to dump snow across the state last weekend.A gaggle of squawking muckrakers reserved their fiercest attacks for Butler at the press conference Tuesday, apparently for not having enough line crews in Connecticut from other states. Companies from states outside of Connecticut have promised to send workers to help clean up a clearly gargantuan mess created by Winter Storm Alfred, but they have been slower than expected in arriving. A problem with not getting paid for previous work seemed to be a significant issue for the out-of-state workers, but it is also clear that the size and extent of last weekend’s storm came a surprise to just about everyone.Self-righteous reporters took the opportunity to assail Butler for not having enough out-of-state crews, as if he has any power (excuse the pun) to control them.Malloy did say Tuesday that he was disappointed with the response from other states, but what can we really expect? As of Tuesday night, Butler said there were nearly 500 crews working in Connecticut, including CL&P’s total workforce of 172 crews, and that he expected more than 1,000 crews to be operating by the end of the week. That’s fairly impressive. In the Winsted area, many of the trucks working along the roadsides have been from North Carolina-based Pike Electric.Anyone who has driven even a few miles in Litchfield County can see dozens of instances of downed trees, limbs hanging on power lines and downed wires. Multiply that by the millions of miles of roads in this state and it becomes obvious that the task of getting everyone’s coffee makers working again isn’t going to happen overnight, no matter how many crews are here. The pathetic whining by members of the media, in a seeming attempt to stir more public anger than is necessary, is irresponsible and clearly not even the real story that is happening in Connecticut.What is the real story? Well, first of all, people are overwhelmingly surviving and taking this storm in stride, as they tend to do in a state that has such commonly unpredictable weather. Friends and family members are staying at homes where they know power has been restored, or where generators are running. Major and secondary roads have been cleared remarkably quickly by town and state crews to make room for work on power lines, and we are all doing the best we can to deal with the aftermath of a freak October snowstorm.And finally, just for contrast, if there is anyone who truly deserves to be angry in Connecticut, it is any passenger who was on that stranded JetBlue flight that was diverted to Bradley International Airport Saturday night and ended up spending seven hours on the snowy runway. The people responsible for that idiotic decision deserve the kind of scrutiny and tough questioning from Connecticut’s TV news reporters, who are aiming at easier targets.
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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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