Beyonce leads list of nominees at MOBO awards

One of the more unique annual awards shows kicks off tonight, with Beyonce leading the list of nominees. The 11th annual MOBO Awards, which honors the best of "music of black origin" regardless of the race of the artist, are being held tonight at Royal Albert Hall in London. Beyonce was nominated for four awards, including best song for "Déjà Vu," best R&B act, best video, and best international female. UK newcomer Corinne Bailey Rae was right behind with three nominations, including best song for "Put Your Records On," best British female artist and best British newcomer. Bailey Rae was also set to perform at the event. "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige, and "So Sick" by Ne-Yo were also nominated for best song. Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly Furtado are also up for best R&B act. The winners are chosen by the newly organized MOBO academy, which includes 500 members of the public.

Duran Duran confirms Timberlake collaboration

Justin Timberlake is ready to take sexy all the way back to the '80s. The pop star, currently sitting at the top of the US charts for both his "SexyBack" single and his FutureSex/Lovesounds album, is planning to work with '80s pop group Duran Duran in the near future. The "Hungry Like a Wolf" group confirmed the collaboration on its MySpace page this week. "Ever since Justin presented the band with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits, they have all expressed an interest in working together," the post read. "To that end, some of the band members met up with Justin recently in New York to discuss a possible collaboration."

Young actress replaces Pink in Joplin biopic

The seemingly infinite cast of singers and actresses picked to play Janis Joplin in a biopic about the '60s star got another entry this week, as actress Zooey Deschanel has replaced singer Pink in one of two rival Joplin biopic projects. The film, The Gospel According to Janis, is based on a script by former Rolling Stone writer David Dalton, who once toured with Joplin while working on a cover story about her. It is set to begin filming in November with Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris at the helm. If it meets that schedule, it would begin before a rival film from Paramount Pictures, Piece of My Heart, starring Renee Zellweger. The list of would-be Janis Joplins is extensive at this point. Prior to Pink's departure due to a scheduling conflict, Lindsay Lohan, Scarlett Johansson, and even Britney Spears were reportedly in the running to play Joplin in Gospel, while Melissa Etheridge, Brittany Murphy, Courtney Love, and Lili Taylor had been in line for Piece before Zellweger.

Redman to host High Times awards

Redman, star of How High with Method Man, will host the sixth annual High Times Stony Awards in New York next month with comedian Doug Benson. The event, which will be held October 24 at B.B. King's, honors the year's best marijuana-friendly movies and TV shows in 21 categories. The award categories include best pot scene in a movie, best reality TV series, and stoner of the year. Nominees include TV shows Weeds, Entourage, and Real Time with Bill Maher, and movies A Scanner Darkly and Grandma's Boy. Redman will also perform at the event, and Tara Angell will sing "Little Boxes," the theme song to Weeds. "It's been a strong year for stoner TV shows and drug-related movies," Stonys executive producer Steve Bloom said in a statement. "Our objective is to highlight the best and most accurate stories and portrayals. And have a good time doing it."

Travis Barker sounds off on Tom DeLonge

Blink-182 is no more, with its members now in new bands Angels & Airwaves and Plus-44. But in an interview with MTV News, drummer Travis Barker didn't seem like he was ready to move on yet. When asked about the song "No It Isn't" on Plus-44's new album When Your Heart Stops Beating, Barker had a lot to say about DeLonge and his departure from Blink-182. "That song is absolutely about the end of Blink-182," Barker said. "It was a classic case of something bad happening and everyone around you not telling you what the deal was. Like the owner of your record label telling you, 'Oh, everything is going to be fine. Any press you do, Travis, make sure you say everything is cool!' And it turns out the same dude is part of the conspiracy of Tom quitting Blink. The only reason we were being cool and calling it an 'indefinite hiatus' is because that's what this dork at the head of our record label was telling us. So that's when you find out that everyone was conspiring against you. That makes you go, 'F*** you. Here's a song about the real deal.'"

"['No It Isn't'] is about coming out a year later and telling the truth," Barker continued. "About being like, 'Yeah, we were on our way to go play a tsunami benefit [February 2005's Music for Relief: Rebuilding South Asia], and Tom didn't call, but his manager did, and he said that Tom couldn't contain his sh** long enough to play a song for people who were suffering, which was pretty sad to me. And obviously we weren't going to say anything bad about him while we were recording our record, but now that it's done, we are gonna talk about it. For a year, people were saying that what Tom did was valid or called for. It eats at you. So maybe you have to talk about it, and maybe you have to write a song about it."