Maybe every governor thinks he’s going to be different. Certainly Gov. Dannel Malloy did during his campaign two years ago and his first few months in office, what with his criticism of the financial legerdemain and dishonesty on which his recent predecessors had relied. Malloy pledged to stop that stuff by following Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. But Connecticut’s economic collapse, precipitated by those predecessors, turned out to be too overwhelming.Even with the record tax increase imposed by the new governor and the big Democratic majority in the General Assembly, state government is again running a huge deficit, so now the governor and legislature have resorted to form — accounting tricks, bonding for current expenses, cheating the neediest and politically weakest, and reducing payments to hospitals for treating the indigent. With the sick and indigent, the governor and legislators seem to have figured that the hospitals would recover their losses by charging more to patients with insurance, causing medical insurers to raise rates, essentially a tax increase that gets around the governor’s pledge to avoid more tax increases.And this time the governor, the leaders of the legislature’s Democratic majority, and the leaders of the Republican minority congratulated each other for being bipartisan — indeed, almost unanimous — about it, as if there was political heroism rather than the usual cowardice in taking from the neediest to keep protecting the government class and crony capitalists getting government subsidies.As they are the party of the government class and crony capitalists, nothing more can be expected from the Democrats. But now that even the Republicans are in on this disaster, what exactly is Connecticut’s political alternative? And if there is no political alternative and you’re not a member of those classes, why stick around?In reply to complaints in this space that treatment of the autistic and mentally ill is more compelling than paying state government employees not to work on Columbus Day, a state employee asks: Why do you hate us so?But that’s no argument. It’s the dodge offered by state employees to deflect any criticism of state government’s mistaken priorities, which put state employee compensation ahead of everything else. A better question is: Insisting on all their silly paid holidays while services to the neediest are cut, why do state employees hate the autistic and mentally ill so?The Malloy administration says Connecticut is open for business. But try telling that to the Rhode Island moving company that recently sought to open in North Stonington. The Day of New London reports that the company, Coutu Bros. Movers of Warwick, was denied a license by the state Transportation Department because its doing business in Connecticut would increase competition and the company had not proven a need for its services.Two moving companies in nearby Stonington objected to the Transportation Department about their potential competitor. Prior to The Day’s report, who would have thought that Connecticut required a new moving company to get a special license, much less to prove a need for its services? The state makes no such demands of most other new businesses here.Of course liquor stores are something else, liquor retailers long having held an anti-competitive lock on public policy and craven state legislators. But Gov. Malloy has begun to contest that. Thanks to him, at least now people can buy liquor on Sunday.The owner of the Rhode Island moving company says he’ll expand in Massachusetts instead because that state encouraged him and gave him a license in 15 minutes. He adds that the paperwork at Connecticut’s Transportation Department was overwhelming — maybe because the department wanted to keep him out all along.Whenever the law allows business to obstruct competition, that’s crony capitalism too and another reason for the state’s decline.Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.
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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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