'America's Block Party' begins with Times Square ball drop

Live stream coverage of America’s Block Party, a celebration of the country's 250th birthday, has begun with the first of eight ball drops in Times Square — one for each time zone in the U.S. and its commonwealths and properties across the globe.

At 10 a.m., the Times Square ball dropped as the clock struck midnight on July 4 in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, both American territories. However the stream, which showed residents of Guam counting down from midnight, never actually displayed the ball or its world famous drop.

The ball will drop seven more times in Manhattan through 7 a.m. on Saturday — midnight on Independence Day for American Samoa.

The America 250 show began streaming live from One Times Square with a pre-show at 9:45 a.m. although the site appeared to be glitchy, with the volume shutting off intermittently and videos of Americans discussing their journey and lifestyle stalling at random.

Throughout the day, the stream will feature performances leading up to the Ball Drop at midnight in New York to usher in the United States' semiquincentennial. However, the red, white and blue ball drop is not visible to the public from the street, as it typically would be on New Year's Eve.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles will host a benefit show streaming live beginning at 9:30 p.m. EST from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that will feature performances by Chris Stapleton, The Smashing Pumpkins, Chaka Khan and Anthony Ramos, and hosted by Queen Latifah.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.