ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP / ROCK

Eminem’s Day in Court

Grammy Award-winning rapper Eminem was sentenced to one year of probation Thursday for two gun-related charges stemming from an argument with an associate of a rival rap group. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, had pleaded no contest to charges of carrying a concealed firearm and brandishing a weapon. The charges were filed after a dispute involving the hip-hop star and the road manager of rap group Insane Clown Posse outside a Royal Oak, Mich., stereo store last year. Judge Denise Langford Morris delivered a stern warning to the singer and ordered him to come up with a plan for doing community service within 21 days. “The activity you engaged in will not be tolerated in a civilized society,” she told the singer, who stood silently in the courtroom. Though he could have been sentenced to five years in prison, Eminem was ordered to pay a fine of $2,000 and court costs of $360. The sentence came out of a plea-bargain agreement.

Yarrow Takes on Bullies

Veteran folk singer Peter Yarrow is changing his tune. In the wake of school shootings in Santee, Calif., and Littleton, Colo., he’s focusing on children--or, more specifically, ending bullying in schools. Yarrow, one-third of the legendary Peter, Paul and Mary team, visited the Parrish Middle School in Salem, Ore., this week to promote his “Don’t Laugh at Me Project,” which has been used in more than 10,000 elementary and middle schools nationwide. The program--one of several tested by Salem-Keizer schools this past year--teaches educators how to create respect in the classroom with songs, videos and handouts. A state legislative proposal now before the governor would require Oregon schools to adopt anti-bullying policies.

MOVIES

Looking Back on Lemmon

Beginning Sunday, Turner Classic Movies will air 11 films starring Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon, who died Wednesday at age 76. The two-day event will end at 4 p.m. Monday with a repeat of a 1998 interview with Lemmon and his frequent co-star, Walter Matthau. Sunday’s lineup: “The Apartment” (5 p.m), “Days of Wine and Roses” (7:15 p.m.) and “Some Like It Hot” (9:30 p.m.). On Monday, the channel is showing “Cowboy” (10 a.m.), “The Fortune Cookie” (11:45 a.m) and “The Odd Couple” (2 p.m.). Turner Classic Movies’ on-air host, Robert Osborne, said of Lemmon, “He was perhaps even a better actor than most realized because in life he was a much more complicated man than his screen persona would indicate.” American Movie Classics, meanwhile, is scheduling its own four-film salute, starting Monday. The offerings: “Mister Roberts” (5 and 9:15 p.m.), “The Front Page” (7:30 p.m.), “The Out-of-Towners” (11:45 p.m.) and “Fire Down Below” (1:30 a.m).

THEATER

Backbiting in British Theater

Director Trevor Nunn (“Cats,” “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby”) has come under almost constant attack since taking over Britain’s National Theater--despite the institution’s artistic success. According to a BBC survey cited on Artsjournal.com, 88% of 1,000 theatergoers polled said they would “prefer that he step down as soon as possible.”

Taking a Turn as the Fairer Sex

Luke Perry, former “Beverly Hills, 90210” heartthrob, is playing dorky Brad Majors in “The Rocky Horror Show” on Broadway--and the trip, he says, is a wild one. During the five-week run, which began Tuesday, he’s required to dress up as a woman, including donning a bustier and corset. “You ever wear one of those things?” Perry, 34, said to People magazine. “Well, it ain’t too comfortable. Fishnet stockings . . . all of that. I am not remotely glamorous, and now I know why. It’s just too much trouble.” He agreed to do the show, he added, because his job as an actor is “to try and do new stuff.”

QUICK TAKES

“David Hockney, Retrospective: Photoworks,” the first exhibition devoted exclusively to the photography of the artist, will conclude its world tour in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, July 22-Oct 21. Museum director Jeremy Strick will lead a Q & A at 10 a.m. on the day of the opening. . . . More than 500 amateur and professional artists will gather on July 7 and 8 at Pasadena City Hall to create murals during the ninth annual Absolut Chalk Festival. Proceeds go to community arts programs. . . . Peter Johansen has been named producer of CBS’ “The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn,” replacing Mary Connelly, who left last month after a year on the job. Johansen has worked as a producer on such programs as “Entertainment Tonight” and the “Today” show. . . . Robert Willis, brother of actor Bruce Willis, died Tuesday. The 42-year-old Web site designer had been battling pancreatic cancer. . . . Rock star Tom Petty has married girlfriend Dana York, 37.