Cans block party

Mini-Kiss has to be the most hysterical live show I’ve seen since I saw Renelvis perform live several years ago.

They are a band of little people who play Kiss songs. They sound great until the singing starts. Once they start singing, they sound so awful it’s funny. The band’s make-up is impeccable, and they are crazy-energetic. If you ever get a chance to see them, you have to go.

The band opened for Rob Base and E.Z. Rock at the Cans one-year anniversary block party last Saturday. The hip-hop act only has two songs, “Joy and Pain” and “It Takes Two,” so they spent their set performing contemporary hits and old-school rap hits. The crowd loved it all and sang along. The highlight was Base’s singer and hype man Kyle Riffken. He looks thugged out, but he can sing.

Cans, at Graham and Fifth streets, held the party in the parking lot across the street. Along with live music, they had a Red Bull lounge area with giant bean bags, one of those bop ’em air things (where friends beat each other up with giant air-filled batons) and Cornhole games. Partiers either played games, chilled at patio tables or mingled around the stage area.

If a block party seems extravagant for only one year, the folks at Cans have reason to celebrate: Apparently, the Charlotte location did better than expected and the owners may have other concepts in mind for this area. Right now, that’s all on the hush, hush.