On Monday Venetian Casino Resort, LLC. filed suit against Tea Party Nation Corporation of Franklin, TN for $642,144 in unpaid hotel bills and interest. According to a contract attached to the suit, Tea Party Nation agreed to pay the resort $579,148 in the event of a cancellation. The Palazzo alleges the group still owes $554,148, plus and 18 percent interest charge of $87,996.

Tea Party Nation had big plans for their 2010 summer convention: The neo-con org booked 1,637 room nights at the ritzy Palazzo Hotel at a cost of $554,148, with attendees checking in on Wednesday, July 14, and departing on Sunday, July 18.

Except no one was interested. Las Vegas in July? Puhleez. At the average cost of $339 per night, a registration fee of $399, and the convention’s speakers Laura Ingraham and Republican congressional candidate Sharron Angle? Boring! Only excursions to see Criss Angel and Carrot Top could have made that event any more dire.

The Palazzo: Conservatively tasteful

Tea Party Nation organizers shifted the date to October, and then cancelled the whole event, skipping out on the bill. The February 2010 Tea Party Nation convention in Memphis featured Sarah Palin, but drew cries of profiteering. And Frank Ricotta, vice chair of the Clark County Republican Party and a former state director of Nevada Patriots, told the Las Vegas Review Journal at the time of the Vegas event’s cancellation:

They were kind of opportunistic.

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips just announced that:

the 2011 Tea Party National Convention, originally scheduled for Kansas City, KS with his support, has been reset for a new state based on strategic electoral considerations and the desires of a new group of funders.

Oh, and Phillips also said:

Boehner and McConnell are the predatory credit card issuers of the Entitlement State, they’re about to renew Obama’s cancelled Mastercard, and they want to saddle America’s grandchildren with all of the bills

But the Tea Party Nation has saddled the Palazzo and its parent company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., with over $500,000 dollars in unpaid bills. Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson is a major Republican political donor.

Slipknot Bassist Paul Gray RIP

Skipknot bassist Paul Dedrick Gray was found dead in his hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa. While no foul play is suspected, police–aided by Polk County Medical Examiner’s Office–are conducting a complete investigation. His wife GodsGirls’ member Brenna Paul is expecting their first child later this year.

Slipknot is known for their aggressive metal sound and grotesque stage makeup and masks.

In 2005 the band threatened to sue Burger King claiming CoqRoq–a fake band used in ads for the fast food franchise’s now-forgotten chicken fries–blatantly copied several of Slipknot’s signature masks, including a gas mask, a kabuki-style face covering, and a mask with dreadlocks attached.

Three years later in Krugersdorp, South Africa a student dressed as Slipknot’s drummer Joey Jordison stabbed a schoolmate to death with a sword and then attacked two gardeners.

(photo: Mark Coatsworth, creative commons)