Stories and memories? You’d have as much luck holding them back Sunday at the Italian-American Club as you would reining in Carme Pitrello, the outsized Las Vegas entertainer whose life will be celebrated there that day.

But two stories — told by Pitrello’s girlfriend and business partner — look forward, not back. They get to these questions: How do you replace the likes of the 82-year-old Pitrello, who died Dec. 4 in Florida? What happens when the rest of the ’60s-era entertainers from the classic Vegas lounge days have left us?