Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.
What: 2007 Meatball Awards
When: 6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. award presentation and 8:45 p.m. meatball feast Sunday
Where: Imperial Palace Showroom
Tickets: $49.95; 731-3311
Entertainer of the year: Clint Holmes
Entertainment director: Ron Garret
Producer: John Stuart
Talent coordinator: Jaki Baskow
Impressionist: Bill Acosta
Comedian: Pete Barbuti
Lounge act: Sun Spots
Male singer: Laurence T.
Female singer: Denise Clemente
Magician: Fielding West
Chef: Charles "Chas" La Forte
Radio: Ira Sternberg
TV anchorwoman: Cathy Ray (KTNV Channel 13)
TV anchorman: Gary Waddell (KLAS Channel 8)
Press columnist: Jerry Fink
Las Vegas Lifetime Achievement: Nancy Houssels
Las Vegas Lifetime Achievement: Sam Melchionne
Scheduled presenters: Mary Wilson, Larry Hart, Tony Sacca, Derek David, Mike Weatherford, Lorraine Hunt-Bono, Jackie Brett, Maynard Sloate, Grant Griffin, Mac King, Cork Proctor, Babe Pier and Cook E. Jarr
Pass the envelope, please.
And the winner is .... (ta ta da DAAA) ...
Me.
Wait, is this the right envelope? Yes, I'm one of more than a dozen folks deeply - or peripherally in my case - involved in the Las Vegas entertainment scene who will receive Meatball awards at a ceremony Sunday night.
I have no talent to entertain, but I do enjoy watching and writing about those who do. So, my Meatball is in the (surprise!) press category.
Other Meatballs go to real entertainers. I'm honored to be grouped with such greats as actor/singer Clint Holmes, comedian Pete Barbuti, impressionist Bill Acosta and the Sun Spots, a kitschy-but-popular lounge act in Las Vegas since the '60s.
Unfortunately, like so many other lounge acts, the Sun Spots no longer have a regular gig. Too bad. They are the stuff that Las Vegas dreams are made of. Or were. The world is changing, and Vegas right along with it.
Apparently there is no longer room for kitschyness, except in my writing. In that, I am playing my part by keeping the Vegas tradition alive.
Keeping tradition alive is why the awards were created by graphic artist Don Manarina, who had a deep respect for entertainers. He died not long after the first Meatball ceremony at the Greek Isles in 2002.
"The ceremony is really to honor the history, the life experiences of the people who have worked in Las Vegas for years, especially in the lounges," Manarina told me when he was still planning the first event.
Vocalist Grant Griffin, who has produced and entertained for all the Meatball Award ceremonies, has tried to keep Manarina's dream alive.
The second ceremony was in 2004 at the Orleans. Plans for the third were put on a shelf until this year, when it was moved to Imperial Palace.
"The meatballs are symbolic," Griffin said. "Don wanted to honor all the people he had seen get up and perform in restaurants and clubs around town for nothing, just doing it for fun, for meatballs, for chump change so to speak."
This year's entertainment will include the Society of Seven with Lani Misalucha. Comedian Cork Proctor will be the emcee.
"When Don first asked me to produce the show, I fell in love with the whole idea," Griffin said. "I even loved the title - the Meatball Awards. It was so outlandish, with great comical appeal, but you could put together a seriousness about it."
Well, it can't be too serious if I'm receiving an award. The free meatballs after the ceremony are reward enough.
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