Queen Latifah at the <i>PAPER</i> magazine party at the New York Public Library in New York City on Tuesday
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — Paper magazine celebrated its 25th anniversary Tuesday evening with a party at the New York Public Library. Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Janelle Monae were all in attendance as Queen Latifah, the Virgins, DJ Mark Ronson and Liza Minnelli performed.

The Virgins opened the loosely enforced black-tie affair, which mixed a crowd of fashionistas, musicians and socialites. Lead singer Donald Cummings hit the stage with his face covered in what looked like black ink that had dripped from his scalp. He asked the crowd to forgive the band for not sound-checking as they proceeded to jump straight into their set.

The downtown dance-rock outfit performed a variety of songs — some of which have appeared on "Gossip Girl" — from their self-titled debut album.

Queen Latifah hit the stage next, dressed in all black with yellow Reebok Classics. The legendary MC began listing off various fellow famous New Jersey artists, including the Jonas Brothers and Bruce Springsteen, before she performed "The Light" off of her new hip-hop album, Persona.

Latifah raised the tempo with the album's first single, "Fast Car," and continued with mostly new material, though she did perform her classic "U.N.I.T.Y," much to the crowd's liking.

Broadway legend Liza Minnelli closed the show, but not before Andrew W.K. could invite Paper founders Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits onstage. The pair thanked everyone for their support, as they brought out a cake and asked the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to their magazine.

• Kanye West, Amber Rose, Queen Latifah Celebrate Paper Magazine's 25th Anniversary

• Queen Latifah
• The Virgins
• Janelle Monae
• Mark Ronson
• Kid Cudi

The Virgins
Photo: MTV News

Gossip Girls Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen enjoy the finer things in life. Shopping? Bergdorf. Dancing? Socialista. Music? The Virgins.

Who?

The New York rockers found themselves thrust into the mainstream last year when the producers of "Gossip Girl" used their EP as the soundtrack for an episode of the show.

"I think it made a big difference for people knowing about us," lead singer Donald Cumming told MTV News, with some understatement. "[When the producers approached us,] I kept thinking 'Gilmore Girls' ... and I was like, 'I don't know if that sounds right!' "

Cumming was relieved, however, when he learned the band's music would actually appear in "Gossip Girl," which is a much better fit. "I was like, 'Oh, perfect, good.' And then we watched it and it was excellent — those girls are very, very entertaining!"

The feeling is mutual. "They have a great sound," Jessica Szohr, who plays Vanessa on the show, gushed at a recent Virgins gig. "They're such great guys."

(Head over to the Newsroom blog for John Norris' report on his interview with the Virgins.)

But despite the approval from the younger members of the cast, this probably isn't a band that Blair or Serena's mom would approve of. (In fact, who is the queen bee of "Gossip Girl"? Tell us your opinion!)

Cumming met future bandmate Wade Oates at a nude photo shoot in Mexico that was organized by friend and famed photographer Ryan McGinley. "We got there and they were like, 'Everybody strip! You're going to be naked for 10 days!' Cumming recalled. "[One day] soldiers pulled up to the beaches with M16's, and we're all completely naked, just eating fish. We were like, 'Hi guys!' But they were sweet and liked that the girls were naked, so they hung out for the rest of the day."

When they weren't "working," Cumming and Oates passed the time by playing acoustic guitars and talking about music. "That trip hit a reset button," Cumming recalled. "Like, even the songs I've always loved, there was something really exciting about hearing them again. We just knew we wanted to play music together."

When the two returned to New York a friend of Cumming's introduced him to bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman, a more experienced musician. "I know how to jam in a room of stoned people, but I don't know how to arrange instruments for a live show," Cumming said. "When we played with Nick I was like, 'Maybe there is [our] chance — I just have to make sure this guy is in it.' " The three wrote and recorded for a year before adding drummer Erik Ratensperger to the lineup.

The band spread the word by handing out their demo to local DJs. "We used to make the songs in my room and take them straight to a party and be like, 'Hey! Play this!' " Cumming said. "The goal was to make music that we could listen to that night." Their third gig — opening for Patti Smith and Sonic Youth at Paris fashion week — didn't hurt either: The band was invited by friend/designer Agnes B. "We said yes because we're all pretty stupid," Cumming joked.

Evidently not: Before long, the band was selling out local shows and had caught the ears of "Gossip Girl" producers.

But despite being signed to a major (Cumming said he used his impressive connections to "weasel" his way into a deal with Atlantic in 2006, before the band was even really a band), the guys don't seem too worried about album sales. Cumming claimed he doesn't even know what SoundScan is.

"We don't stress how seriously we're taken," he said.

"We wanted to build it more naturally and be more successful because of the number of fans we have," Zarin-Ackerman added. "We don't want to be some candy bar the record company throws at your head. Let's try to make this thing live on the shoulders of people who actually like the music."

• 'Gossip Girl' Faves The Virgins: Exposed

• The Virgins

Radiohead's Thom Yorke performs at the 2008 All Points West Festival
Photo: John Shearer/WireImage.com

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — The much-anticipated All Points West Music & Arts Festival kicked off in New Jersey's Liberty State Park this weekend with performances by Radiohead, Jack Johnson and the Kings of Leon, among others. But in addition to being the Tri-State area's first weekend-long multi-band fest in quite some time, APW is also hoping to make a name as the greenest festival around.

"We're striving to be green," festival organizer Ken Tesler told MTV News. "There are very few people driving to this festival. It's a huge mass-transit event, and I think that alone must save a tremendous amount of fuel and help from an emissions standpoint."

"Gossip Girl" star Jessica Szohr and supermodel Jessica Stam agree. "I think it's great how transportation by ferry is being so encouraged," Stam said. "And they made it really hard to get parking passes, so that keeps it green."

"It was crazy there at the ferry today," Szohr added. "The line was so long — I was like, 'What is this?' "

The festival also kept it green backstage by providing nondisposable materials, at the artists' request.

"That takes a lot of extra effort and extra money ... but the artists were very conscious about not throwing stuff away," co-festival organizer Mike Donovan said. "We're not adding tons of plastic and paper plates backstage, but it's a small thing, and there's probably a ways to go there."

But some of the day-two artists said it's the small things that count. "My girlfriend drives a hybrid, and I quit turning my lights on when I go to the restroom," Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill joked. His bandmate and brother Jared Followill does his part for the environment by shopping with a reusable cotton bag from Whole Foods.

The Virgins are also keeping it green by drinking tap water on the road and refilling plastic water bottles "with water from the clubs," said bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman.

The Roots' ?uestlove encourages his engineer to turn off all the equipment in the studio to save energy. Chromeo would like to tour greener but feel they already do a lot by not taking a fleet of trucks or buses on tour with them.

"I recycle," P-Thugg added.

"Our music is recycled anyway," Dave 1 added. "So it's green."

According to Donovan, keeping APW green — as other music festivals have been doing in recent years — is a real priority for the artists. Headliners Radiohead actually commissioned a carbon-footprint study of their tour, and Jack Johnson brought an interactive eco-village to the festival in order to educate attendees about the importance of maintaining a green lifestyle.

"These artists are out there not to beat people over the head but to increase awareness of a lot of different issues," Donovan said.

The festival also featured green elements such as environmental-awareness booths and eco-friendly art. And at the TRASHed Recycling Store, concertgoers exchanged plastic bottles and cans for merchandise like T-shirts and beach balls, among other things.

"One 10-year-old got a skateboard earlier today," a TRASHed volunteer said. "He had, like, 200 bottles."

"In a pretty easy way, it creates a little consciousness about what happens when you throw it away," Donovan said. "Let's pick it all up, let's get a little reward for doing so, and it will also keep the grounds looking a lot nicer for everyone throughout the weekend."

"We got here this morning and it was absolutely clean," Virgins guitarist Wade Oates said. "We thought it was going to be destroyed. ... I guess people are really making a conscious effort."

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports. And send your own concert pics, videos and reviews to MTV News You R Here!

• All Points West Puts The Environment First

• All Points West Festival At New Jersey's Liberty State Park

• Radiohead
• Jack Johnson
• Chromeo
• Kings Of Leon
• The Roots