Names and faces
It was Kendrick Lamar’s friendship with 50 Cent that helped him get a guest role on Starz’s Power, but Lamar came ready to work. “He was so chill, like very cool, very humble,” said series creator and producer Courtney Kemp. “He’s very kind of quiet and thorough and methodical. He had prepared so much. He was ready.” Kemp didn’t give much away about the character Lamar plays, but she said he indicated he was interested in playing a drug addict. “He’s really gifted, tremendously gifted. I mean it’s a total transformation. It is not a version of Kendrick Lamar that you’ve ever seen before. So it’s very exciting,” Kemp said. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, a producer for Power who also appears in Sunday’s show, got the ball rolling for his buddy Lamar, Kemp said Saturday. “That is absolutely 50 Cent,” she said. “He is just a dynamo when it comes to bringing these things together, and he and Kendrick … were hanging out and Kendrick said, ‘I’d really like to be on the show,’ and you know it goes from there.” Kemp, who took part in a panel discussion on the series Saturday, said the Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning Lamar was “fearless” in approaching what Starz called his first role on a scripted TV series. Whether Lamar will be back on the show, which is in its fifth season and stars Omari Hardwick as a drug kingpin and nightclub owner, is something Kemp wouldn’t reveal before Lamar’s episode airs. “Anyone can die in Power at any time! So I can’t say,” Kemp said.
Singer Neil Diamond gave an unexpected performance for firefighters battling a blaze near his Colorado home. The 77-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer took to the stage Friday night to play “Sweet Caroline” for dozens of firefighters gathered at the command post for a fire burning near Basalt in central Colorado. Video of the event shows Diamond thanking firefighters for their efforts to save his community. Two people are accused of igniting the Lake Christine Fire on July 3 by firing incendiary tracer rounds at a shooting range. About 450 people are helping battle the blaze, which is mostly contained.