Third Street Roots: At its spring gala at Capitale, at Grand St. and Bowery, on Mon., May 8, Third Street Music School will be honoring The Roots, Clarfeld Financial Advisors and Beverly Harper, the school’s director of safety for nearly two decades. The $500-a-ticket event (or $5,000 per table) raises funds to transform lives through music and arts. “Saturday Night Live” alum Rachel Dratch will be the evening’s emcee and hipster auctioneer C K Swett will do what he does best. Dave Guy, who plays trumpet with The Roots, is excited about the event for the school, where he honed his chops as a budding horn blower growing up on E. 10th St. and Fourth Ave. “Definitely, it was an integral part of my early musicianship,” he told us this week. “I went to preschool there, too — my mom taught preschool there — and I started taking trumpet lessons there at age 11.” His mother still teaches at Third Street. Guy, who also attended P.S. 41 and LaGuardia High School, is proof that a start at Third Street Music School can take you far. He made his name by touring with the late Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings for a dozen years before joining The Roots for their tours and on the Jimmy Fallon show. “The Tonight Show” is a dream gig for him. “It’s an incredible job for a musician,” said Guy, who now lives in Westchester with his family. For more information about the gala, contact Katherine Nemeth at 212-777- 3240 ext. 26 or e-mail gala@thirdstreetmusicschool.org or visit thirdstreetmusicschool.org/gala.
She’s in the money: Jessica Berk tells us that she and her elderly mother, Ruth, have agreed to buyout terms with their landlord, BLDG Management, to move out of their airy penthouse apartment at 95 Christopher St. They are set to receive a hefty $250,000 apiece and have about a year and a half — until the end of October 2018 — to vacate. In addition, more than $30,000 in back rent will be forgiven. The landlord had tried to attach a 26-page set of conditions to the deal, including putting a gag order on Jessica and saying she couldn’t come within two blocks of the building after she leaves — but the judge tossed that out. “Suddenly, everyone is being very nice to me!” Jessica told us. “I’m thinking of going to Europe and visiting friends who have pools, and going to California and getting back into the music industry.” She barely mentioned Arthur Schwartz, the attorney who actually worked out the deal. “It was difficult to get Jessica to get to a number,” Schwartz noted. He added that it was he who got the judge to toss out all the landlord’s conditions. Jessica is saying that she basically will be getting $500,000, but Schwartz, in a clear dig, said, “She has to hope her mother leaves her her half.” Ruth, 94, who was a glamorous cabaret singer in her heyday, is currently on the mend at a nursing home on the Upper West Side. “She is very happy there,” though she may not stay there, according to Schwartz. Although not a record, the buyout price is definitely high. “It’s a rental,” Schwartz noted. “The landlord will get $10,000 a month for the apartment. So, it will take four to five years to make back the money, so it’s a long-term investment. Plus, they must be spending a fortune on lawyers,” and they just wanted the Berks out, he said. As for Jessica, she noted that she may eventually also sue over the hidden security cameras that the landlord placed outside their apartment, which Schwartz famously yanked out and took two years ago. Although Schwartz ultimately was cleared in court of any criminal charges in that incident, Jessica noted that he never actually did sue over the cameras having been put there in the first place.
On the mend: Doris Diether, the legendary zoning maven of Community Board 2, fell in her garden on Monday and fractured her pelvis. She was taken to Beth Israel Hospital — where, of course, the doctors and nurses have fallen in love with her — and will be transferred to a rehab center to heal up. Feel better soon, Doris!
Cats’ call: Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis has announced he is not running for mayor — at least not this time around. “I have often said I have one more race for office in me,” “Cats” said. “But, after careful consideration and consultation with my family, friends and advisers, I have decided the 2017 race for mayor of New York will not be it. It was a tough decision to make because I truly love this city and its people,” he added. “My decision was based in part on the fact that the power of an incumbency is extremely hard to defeat.” He said he will continue to speak out on issues, including education, police and crime and affordable housing. “We can’t allow New York to become another Chicago,” he declared on crime. “The New York City Housing Authority is a national disgrace!” he charged. On small businesses, Catsimatidis said, “I will always fight to protect those who run small businesses and are burdened by high taxes, red tape and regulation. These businesses are the lifeblood of our city and I want other New Yorkers, especially immigrants, to have the same opportunities I had to live the American Dream.”
