Switzerland beat Spain! America tied England! Brasil spanked North Korea! Germany destroyed Australia!

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the World Cup, but the Kansas City Star makes some very noticeable observations about this year's first round of the group stage.

Since the modern format of 32 teams started in 1998, the 25 goals scored has been the lowest total by far through the first 16 games. In comparison, after 16 games in 2006 there were 39 goals scored, while the 2002 tournament saw 46 goals scored in the opening cycle. The 1998 tournament in France is the next-lowest to the current one, with 37 goals scored through 16 games.

The 25 goals have also been scored by 25 different goal scorers - a World Cup record - meaning no player has stood out offensively to this point.

Germany is the only team to stand out, scoring four goals vs. Australia, with only South Korea, Brazil and Netherlands scoring more than once, although the Dutch were aided by an own goal to enter the select group.

Nine of the first 16 games also had scoreless first halves, with both teams getting on the scoreboard in just five those games. Brazil's 2-1 win over North Korea on Tuesday was the only game in which the losing team has scored a goal, meaning there hasn't been a lot of back-and-forth action.

Defenders have scored seven goals, which matches the amount scored by the forwards, while midfielders have added the other 11. That means a large portion of the goals scored have come off set pieces instead of being the culmination of buildups and tic-tac-toe passing plays.

Of those goals, at least two have come on horrendous goalkeeping blunders, with England's Robert Green and Algeria's Fawzi Chaouchi handing the opposition goals.

All in all a pretty disappointing opening 16 games. But if the opening cycle came in like a lamb, it went out like a lion with the Spain/Switzerland match, which hopefully bodes well for the other 32 group matches to come.

Eminem has enlisted the 'ShamWow' guy, Vince Shlomi, for a "Recovery" LP ad, which is kind of funny even if the fake ad is a lot stupid. In related news.....

Tickets for the Jay-Z and Eminem concert on September 13 at Yankee Stadium will go on sale on June 25 at 10:00 a.m. online at Ticketmaster, phone at (800) 745-3000, via Ticketmaster TTY at (800) 943-4327 and at select area Ticketmaster outlets.

It will be the second of a home-and-home series of shows for New York City-native JAY-Z and Detroit-area-native Eminem, as the pair will also perform at Detroit's Comerica Park on September 2.

Beirut will play shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on July 5th and 6th.

Tickets for July 5th are $9.99 and can only ONLY be purched from the Bowery box offices at Mercury Lounge and Music Hall of Williamsburg starting Saturday at noon.

Tickets for the July 6th show are $25 and go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon. General sale starts Friday at noon.

Woom opens both shows...

The first single from Brandon Flowers' debut solo album, Flamingo, is called "Crossfire". It should come as no surprise that it sounds like a The Killers b-side. Have a listen...

LISTEN: Brandon Flowers - "Crossfire"

Weezer have a long history of being footie fanatics, so it's no big surprise that on the opening day of the World Cup, the boys are kindly dropping a free U.S. World Cup anthem called "Represent". You can download it for free right here.

In related news, We Are Scientists recently recorded a pro-England song, despite the fact that they’re from California and the U.S. faces off against England tomorrow. Traitors.

Spin have announced the schedule for their big 25th anniversary celebration. The magazine will hold court at Terminal 5 for four straight nights before moving the party over to a final celebration at Radio City Music Hall.

Here's the schedule and line-up:

Mon, 07/26/10 -Smashing Pumpkins -Terminal 5
Tues, 07/27/10 - Flaming Lips - Terminal 5
Wed, 07/28/10 - The Black Keys - Terminal 5
Thu, 07/29/10 - The National - Terminal 5
Fri, 07/30/10 - Spiritualized - Radio City Music Hall

An Amex presale is now happening. Tickets go on sale to the general public on June 14 at 11AM.

Nelson Mandela's 13-year-old great-granddaughter died in a car crash on her way home from a tournament-eve concert in Soweto...

Watch the kick-off concert here.....

The World Cup officially begins today at 10am when South Africa faces Mexico in Soccer City, Johannesburg.

Later this afternoon at 2:30pm, Uruguay does battle with France.

Both matches will be broadcasted on ESPN, ESPN3.com and XM Radio. Or you can find one of the many open pubs that will be screening the games throughout the city.

Here's hoping that Team USA has an awesome World Cup...

The Vaseline's Sex With An X was recording in just 13 days and is due out September 14th via Sub Pop Records.

Sex With An X Tracklist:
01. Ruined
02. Sex With An X
03. The Devil Inside Me
04. Such a Fool
05. Turning It On
06. Overweight But Over You
07. Poison Pen
08. I Hate the 80’s (MP3)
09. Mouth to Mouth
10. Whitechapel
11. My God’s Bigger Than Your God
12. Exit The Vaselines

The opening match of the World Cup, South Africa vs Mexico, is tomorrow at 10am on ESPN. I'm sooo excited.......

In Somalia, militants have threatened to behead anyone caught watching the World Cup or even playing soccer.....

In England, businesses fear that the World Cup could cost them up to £1 billion in lost working hours due to employees following matches online, discussing football in the workplace and taking unauthorised absence.....

NPR reports on how South Africa is hiding their homeless in "Tin Can City".....

Here's a list of 11 bars showing the World Cup in Williamsburg, Brooklyn......

The Strokes played a not-so-surprise show at Dingwalls in London under the name Venison this evening. This being their first show in forever, it would have been no surprise to see them a little rusty, but that doesn't appear to be the case at all. It sounds like the New York five-piece delivered a sweaty and rocking show that left the crowd in frenzy that made you think it was 2002 all over again.

Unfortunately the band decided to not play any of the new songs they've been working on recording, opting instead to highlights tracks from all three of their albums.

THE STROKES | DINGWALLS | JUNE 9, 2010
New York City Cops / The Modern Age / Hard to Explain / Reptilia / Whatever Happened / You Only Live Once / SOMA / Vision of Division / I Can’t Win / Is This It / Someday / Red Light / Last Night // Under Control // 12:51 // Juciebox // Heart in a Cage // Take It Or Leave It

Bonnaroo will have a live webcast exclusively on YouTube at www.youtube.com/bonnaroo.

The webcast will feature sets from Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Neon Indian, Kings of Leon, Regina Spektor, Dead Weather, The National, Tori Amos, The Dodos, Temper Trap, Weezer, Ween and many others.

Check the full schedule after the jump....

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces webcast schedule" »

An update from Kathleen Hanna:

We’re showing an IN PROGRESS version of the movie we’ve been working on next week at NEWFEST.

It’s about our last tour in 2005 and has a lot of performance in it. I don’t know how else to describe it so you’ll just have to see for yourself. Jo and I will be answering questions afterwards.

The film will be shown at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street) in New York City on June 9th and June 13th. Tickets are $14 and available here.

A mysterious video has been posted that features Jack White and a hooded guest making their way to the front door of Third Man Records Studio in Nashville, TN and posting a flier that reads “Conan: Third Man Records, June 10th, 2010, 8:00 PM, 21+, First Come, First Serve.” Could this be the first public performance by the White Stripes in a couple years? Watch the video and cross your fingers...

My Morning Jacket will take over New York City’s Terminal 5 for a five night run of shows where they will perform one of their albums in its entirety on each night.

The stint will kick off on Monday, October 18th with a performance of the Jacket’s debut, 1999’s The Tennessee Fire, and will be followed chronologically by their other four full-lengths, ending with 2008’s Evil Urges on Saturday the 23rd. After the given album is performed each night, the audience will be treated to a mix of favorites from the band’s catalog as well.

All of the dates will individually go on sale June 18th but for fans who want the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of experiencing all five nights, there will be a special pre-sale. Five-show ticket packages will go on sale June 14th. As with their current upcoming headlining tour dates in August, the band will be donating $1 from each ticket to a local charity. Please see below for more info on each charity and to purchase tickets, head over to www.terminal5nyc.com.

October 18 - The Tennesee Fire / Charity: Safe Haven of Pike County
www.safehavenofpikecounty.org

October 19 - At Dawn / Charity: The Innocence Project
www.innocenceproject.org

October 21 - It Still Moves / Charity: 826NYC
www.826nyc.org

October 22 - Z / Charity: New York Cares
www.newyorkcares.org

October 23 - Evil Urges / Charity: Sustainable South Bronx
www.ssbx.org

The World Cup will be available to watch online at ESPN3.com and on mobile devices that get tv......

Three foreign World Cup journalists were robbed at gunpoint early on Wednesday morning, according to South African police.....

The new issue of Time Magazine is all about the World Cup, focusing on Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o....

David Beckham will host a blog about the World Cup for Yahoo.....