These are strange times indeed. The Venetian's Sheldon Adelson is in court fighting the operators of his own resort's wildly successful Tao. Tao nightclub has become a celebrity haunt, creating long lines and regular buzz. But that just scratches the surface. Last month, for example, Tao Bistro at the Venetian was also named the top grossing resturant in the country. And last year Tao expanded into the equally successful Tao Beach. Thus with Tao, the Venetian now has a triple threat: a top nightclub, a financial juggernaut of a restaurant and a leading seat on Vegas' latest bandwagon, the pool nightclub.

I was at Tao a few months ago, and the place was packed. I met owner Richard Wolf, who explained to me his philosophy about nightlife is to find the "perfect energy."

I don't know what that means, but I know he found his "perfect energy" with Tao at the Venetian. Before Tao opened at the Venetian, the resort made numerous entries into nightlife that did not get "perfect energy." The best of these efforts never managed to generate much buzz and the worst, C2K, was closed by the resort in 2000 with a casino argument against the nightclub at the time, "alleging drug use leading to overdoses, fights and other violence."

So, it made total sense that the people behind Tao would create a club at the Venetian's expansion, the recently opened Palazzo. In fact, while the name for the club has not been announced, it was general knowledge that a club from the creators of Tao was slated for Palazzo. I have even heard the name and am working now to confirm the planned club's name.

Anyway, the club never opened when the Palazzo opened. Lots of places didn't (and haven't), including the Lamborghini dealership next to Jay-Z's 40/40. But something else was going on with the new club, And the explosive problem appeared in a discreet column item in the Sun earlier this week that tracks the court system. Venetian honcho Sheldon Adelson and Tao founders Richard Wolf and Marc Packer are in court with a nasty landlord/tenant dispute over the new space. Adelson wants them gone from Palazzo. On March 10, Adelson decided to end the nightclub operators' decade-long lease on the Palazzo space. Adelson even changed the locks.

What is going on here?

I reached out to both the Venetian and to Tao to find out the nature of the dispute between the resort and the operators of what has become the signature business at the Venetian. I requested an interview with Wolf and was told he was traveling. As for the legal case against the Palazzo club, Tao's publicist said there would be no comment while the case was still active. The Venetian did not respond to a request for comment.

(Photo by Sarah Gerke)