John Katsilometes picks up some old material at an Old Vegas event, the third annual Meatball Awards

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

The only surprising note from Sunday night's Meatball Awards ceremony is that this celebration of cornball sentiment is just three years old. It is truly an Old Vegas experience - and we're not just talking about Sammy Shore's hairpiece (ba-dum-bum!).

The event at Imperial Palace's Imperial Theatre was alternately touching and bizarre but never boring. What more can you say about an event where the award presenters included a lounge legend (the ever-bronzed Cook E. Jarr) and a for-real legend (former Supreme Mary Wilson, who at age 63 is still hot! Hot! I tell you).

The awards were to highlight "vintage" Vegas figures and the ceremony was a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas. The highlights were too numerous to mention here (I could write a book, albeit a short one, about Pete Barbutti's quasi-political acceptance speech), but I will list a few:

NoteMart

Tribute takes many forms: All Virginia Tech athletic attire in the Front Row Sports inventory has been snapped up, owner Jim Simonson says. A new shipment arrives in about a week. Front Row has six Vegas outlets, including its flagship store at Fashion Show mall ...

The Associated Press News Executives Council has canceled Friday's awards banquet at Disneyland's Paradise Pier Hotel. The decision followed the cancellation of the California Society of Newspaper Editors conference. In a statement, the AP said, "These are challenging times in the newspaper industry and travel budgets have been significantly reduced, leading to a low number of commitments for both events." Las Vegas Sun reporter Emily Richmond and photographer Sam Morris were each first-place winners in this year's APNEC contest and were booked to attend ...

Chico, Calif., CBS affiliate KHSL Channel 12 is offering "no comment" to questions about the Don Imus saga. In March KHSL hired Rob Blair, the former KTNV Channel 13 weatherman whose use of a racial slur in January 2005 got him fired from the ABC affiliate in Southern Nevada ...

Miss Fortunate? Plate on a silver Dodge Magnum, MIS42NT.