BUZZ CLUBS

Thinking small at a tribute to KISS

It was bigger than “Cheap Trick at Budokan.” It was more massive than Spinal Tap at Stonehenge. It was Mini-KISS rocking a Hollywood house party, and even the boys in blue didn’t have the heart to pull the plug on this New York-based Lilliputian quartet. The bash took place Sunday at Viper Room impresario Sal Jenco’s crib as a pre-party for Mini-KISS’ Viper debut on Monday night. Billed as the best midget KISS tribute band, Mini-KISS specializes in air guitar, strumming psychedelic lightning bolt-shaped axes made out of wood. Perfect for a surreal garden fete, where everything was in miniature -- mini-bar, mini-burgers, mini-corn dogs and a grand entrance by one bona-fide giant. Strange days indeed (most peculiar baby!)....

Avalon gears up for Friday night dance club

Had a major deja vu at Avalon’s opening bash on Friday, where the club formerly known as the Palace unveiled its unveiling. Although still a work in progress (I love the smell of fresh paint in the evening), such stars as Janet Jackson, Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake turned out to cheer on the new club. The party was a jump-off for Bolthouse Productions’ new Friday night dance club, a New York-style disco which opens tomorrow at 10 p.m. with DJ AM.

Good times east of Western

Te amo Silver Lake! After slogging our way through the crazy streets of midtown Hollywood on Friday, we escaped to the greener pastures east of Western, where we crashed an after-party at the Garage for Turbonegro, an Epitaph Records band from Scandinavia that’d just wrapped a show at the Henry Fonda Theatre. We knew we were in the right place by all the anti-Arnold Schwarzenegger sentiments on T-shirts. The best moment of the night was watching the L.A. Derby Dolls -- a hot league of roller-derby queens -- boogie on wheels to the sounds of the rockin’ young Gardena band, the Red Onions. Yeah, just another night in Shangri-la la land.

And check this: folks are going batty for the Little Cave, Bobby Green’s new bar in Highland Park. Green, who owns the cheeky Bigfoot Lodge in Atwater Village, plans to open the Little Cave next weekend, and we hear it’s a ‘70s-disco-Gothic lounge. Located at the former location of a ‘60s biker bar called Richard’s Hofbrau, the Little Cave boasts an original sign from a 1940s Sunset Boulevard bar of the same name. Outta sight.

-- Heidi Siegmund Cuda