Only on the NYC subway: U2 performs underground, de Blasio bemoans train …

Earlier this week, the bureaucrats that keep the delay-ridden, overcrowded subway system in more-or-less working condition sounded an alarm.

“The MTA and its transit system are at a crossroads,” MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast wrote to First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris in a letter calling on the city to devote at least $1 billion to the Second Avenue Subway over five years.

The city has said it would give the MTA $657 million over the next half-decade.

Here’s what else happened on the subway this week.

We learned that U2 are the coolest subway buskers

U2 have pulled some stunt concerts in unusual places before to promote their music, like the time they blasted through a song at a Kmart lingerie department. But none of them had virtuoso drummer Larry Mullen Jr. playing plastic buckets like a subway busker.

The band turned up at the S train platform in the subway station below Grand Central Terminal to perform songs on Monday night. It turned out the performance was a stunt for Friday’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Chef Mario Batali was even there to catch the show on Instagram!

Whatever the reason, U2 surely make better subway buskers than your typical eccentric with an acoustic guitar.

(Credit: Instagram/ mariobatali)

We learned that even de Blasio isn’t immune to the city’s subway delays

Mayor Bill de Blasio has a reputation for being tardy, but even he was perturbed when train delays caused him to be 20 minutes late to a speaking event. In an email to his staff that was also mistakenly sent to a New York Times reporter, de Blasio complained that his security detail that dropped him off at the station had left “rather than waiting to confirm we got on a train.”

He also said the delays were “knowable info. Had we had it, we would have avoided a lot of hassles,” the Times reported.

All of this happened as the MTA called for the city to invest more in the transit system, late or not.

(Credit: Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office)

Police are investigating what appears to have been a potentially dangerous prank on the subway tracks. A video posted to YouTube on Sunday night shows a subway worker trying to remove a garbage can that had become lodged under a northbound No. 6 train at Cypress Hills in Brooklyn.

Using what appears to be a piece of wood, the worker tries to remove the can only to spark an explosion that sends smoke billowing through the station.

A spokeswoman for the subway system says the explosion didn’t cause any injuries. But transit officials are investigating whether the power to the third rail was supposed to be switched off or whether the worker didn’t know it was still on.

The YouTube video was posted by a group of teenagers known to the police for subway pranks, the MTA spokeswoman said. The NYPD didn’t immediately have an update on the investigation.

(Credit: YouTube)

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Halle Berry’s TMI Confession About Lingerie Line, Plus Her Mother’s Day Gift Picks

Halle Berry joined “Extra’s” Terri Seymour at a Target store in Los Angeles to dish on her partnership with Scandale Paris lingerie, her new one-of-a-kind-collection available only at Target, and shared a TMI confession about working on a lingerie line, joking, “It is because I wear these things all the time, if you don’t want your boobs on your knees, it’s very important.”
 
The Oscar winner added, “It’s something I’ve always loved, I mean I have worn a bra and slept in a bra, probably TMI, since I was 16 years old. My mother taught me the importance of that and taking care of my body on that end, so lingerie and undergarments have been really important to me.”
 

Family and spending time together are very important to the mother of Nahla, 7, with ex Gabriel Aubry, and Maceo, 18 months, with actor hubby Olivier Martinez. Halle and Nahla just returned from a trip to Nicaragua with the World Food Program.

“The most important part was I got to take my daughter with me on that trip and she was forever changed, her philanthropic heart — just like, she got it, she got why we worked so hard to send money, why it’s so important to have her lemonade stands and send money overseas to places she’s never seen. She never understood how blessed and fortunate she is, and she realized it’s her duty to help out, and she did that just by going and seeing.”
 
Halle revealed Nahla is a real girly-girl. “She’s into dress up, hair and make-up, fashion shows, she’s a girl, girl, girl, you will not find her in a tree, she’s in the salon with me playing with my makeup and just trying to be all things girly girl.”  

Halle also confessed her daughter is very protective of her little brother, saying she already knows Nahla will give girls a hard time if they want to date Maceo. “Nahla will not be having it, she’s so protective of him.” Halle joked, “She’s all but said, ‘Girls look out, gotta go by me!’”
 
Halle is very protective of family, and talked about the anti-paparazzi bill she and Jennifer Garner got passed, which puts a stop to photographers harassing stars and their children. “You don’t see us anymore, you look on the internet you don’t see me going to the market anymore, pumping gas, walking my kids to the park, going to school, it has revolutionized our lives, changed our world, and most importantly my kids — they’re free to go out now, they’re not harassed.”
 
Halle is also working on the second season of her CBS hit “Extant,” a job she feels very lucky to have, because she can bring her kids to work. “Not everybody is that fortunate, so there’s a play place for my kids to come, and Nahla loves to come drive around on the Paramount golf cart, that’s the place she really gets to drive.”

Halle also showed Terri the latest looks from her lingerie line, including a pick that would be the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Check it out!

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