Category Archives: Culture

Birds of a Feather – Spray-paint Together.

Birds of a Feather – Spray-paint Together.

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

– Pablo Picasso

 

At Squeaky, we believe that everyone is capable of some form of artistic expression. Moreover, we believe everyone is entitled to it whether you are a producer or simply a fan. As a company, we strongly encourage our team to explore their creative vision in any and all ways.

Recently we had the pleasure of collaborating with the insanely talented, Adele Renault to work on a personal portrait of our office mascot, Cuca #2. For those who are unfamiliar, Cuca #1 (RIP) is the Head of the Client Services department who entered our lives 10 years back when she landed on our fire escape of the Hudson River.  Being the noisiest member of the Squeaky family, we decided to honor her in the best way we saw fit (as we did chippy via Nychos). We found the perfect artist to capture her majesty in Ms. Renault.

Adele specializes in painting realistic portraits of birds and people, on canvas and murals. From her own bio, Adele’s “Subject matter may live in the gutter or in an ivory tower.” Her work is a true appreciation in the natural and underlying beauty no matter what the object may be. Adele was born on a farm in the Belgian Ardennes, but at the age of 14 began to spend much of her life traveling the world focusing on perfecting her craft. She is most prominent for her large murals of birds, typically pigeons, that can be found on distinct walls in various parts of the world (including Jersey City where we caught her in the act of painting). We reached out to her because we were struck by both her work and commitment to bringing out the essence of her subjects so powerfully.

 

While signing the prints, Adele shared with our founder Anthony her fondness for fellow ardent pigeon fan Mike Tyson. “When I first heard his story of how he first got into fighting (through pigeons), I fell in love, it was like a fairytale to me”. “I will meet him – one day.” Adele promised.

Much like the mindset of Adele, we believe that everything deserves more consideration than initial perception.  Being a creativity-driven company, we are extremely invested in art and in supporting artists. Adele brought fresh energy into our office and her work has left a lasting impression on our whole team. At Squeaky we aim to provide an environment that encourages an open and creative atmosphere because to be invested in art is to be invested in culture, and culture is the soul of it all.

 

The Squeaky Skillet: Top Recipes

The Squeaky Skillet: Top Recipes

One of the benefits of having a full kitchen in your office is…food! Healthy Food! Homecooked Food! FOOD! We here at Squeaky like to take advantage of this as much as possible. Taking a mid-day break to spend time in the kitchen allows us to step away from our work and get our creative juices flowing in a new way (most of the time via lemons) so that when we step back in, we are satiated and ready to help bring home the bacon for our clients.

Here are some of the top recipes that have sizzled on the Squeaky Skillet lately.

Zuchhini Noodles with Avocado Pesto and Spinach from Eating Well

We followed the recipe closely, but it took us about 2x the amount of time then they said (#noobs). We also made it with angel hair zoodles as opposed to thicker ones, which ended up allowing us each to have very hefty serving sizes – no complaints there!

Next time: More dressing, more shrimp, add cheese

Squeaky Rating: A

Farro, Cranberry and Goat Cheese Salad from Tasty Kitchen

Photo Credit: The Tasty Kitchen 

We followed the recipe closely, with a couple of exceptions:

  • ‘Pearled Farro’ – We used Whole Farro instead of Pearled Farro, which required soaking beforehand for 15-20 minutes
  •  ‘Cook farro according to package directions.’ – Sometimes there are no package directions (Hey Rustichella d’Abruzzo, call us, we can help with that 😉), which was the case for us. We cooked the Farro for about 20 minutes, and that seemed to do the job!
  • Transfer to a bowl to cool’ – Creative minds are hungry minds, y’all. Skip the cooling, straight to the EATING!

Next time: Add in another crunch element.

Squeaky Rating: A

Sundried Tomato, Spinach and Quinoa Salad from Cookie and Kate

Photo Credit: Cookie and Kate 

We followed the recipe exactly.

Squeaky Rating: A- 

Next time: More dressing, more greens, some more crunch.

Spinach Goat Cheese Zucchini Spaghetti Frittata from Inspiralized

We were not not ‘inspiralized’ by the vague recipe directions. Ie: “After the eggs set on the bottom, place the skillet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.” Er, set on bottom- what does that mean? For how long? On what temperature!? We had to wing this step so we put the frittata on the stovetop burner for about 10 minutes on Med-High, and then put it in the oven for about 25 minutes. The result was a very burnt fritatta bottom, so the mystery remains unsolved!

Squeaky Rating: B+ 

Next time: Less burn, more pancetta, add sriracha

Office By Day, Music Venue By Night: Squeaky x SoFar NYC

Office By Day, Music Venue By Night: Squeaky x SoFar NYC

If you’ve ever been to Squeaky- or bopped around to our “hold” music when giving us a call- you know that music is central to our culture. That’s why we love transforming the office into a concert venue to enjoy Sofar Sounds shows. Our first show was in 2016, and we were blown away by the talent that SoFar brought into our space.  As our founder Anthony said in a recent interview with SoFar, “When we did our first show the evening was so electric that I was hooked and looked for ways for us to do more.  There have been some great performances here, and I think it’s important to in some small way help the artists celebrate their gifts.  I just love people on their grind and love discovery, so I adore everything Sofar is about.”

As a host, we welcome dozens of strangers into our home – both fellow New Yorkers, and travelers who incorporate SoFar as a staple when exploring of a new city. Together, we share in a musical rarity – to enjoy a night of music that isn’t disrupted by peopling talking through sets and long, noisy lines at overpriced bars.  Plus, we get to discover up and coming artists whose talent is so raw and fresh, that it is truly inspiring to witness. Take YEBBA, for example. At the time of her Squeaky performance, she went by Abbey, and had never performed and original song in front of an audience. Her nerves were evident – Anthony even had to give her an extra little push to get up on stage.

And then this happened:

In the time that has passed since that performance, she has transformed into an artist who Ed Sheeran mentions on the radio, opens up for Chance The Rapper and performs on Saturday Night Live. We were able to be there for her very first moments and to provide her with the stage, thanks to SoFar.

And here are a few of the other amazing artists we’ve had grace our space with beautiful sound (click the links to watch their powerful performances):

Thank you, SoFar, for bringing the magic back into live music.

Photo Credit: Photos courtesy of SoFar Sounds photographers, including Cheyenne Cohen and Carmen Gonzalez.