Please don't tell me to search the knowledge base or look for sample because
there are no samples that address this.

if possible, how can I reference the visual studio tools for office version
of the Excel ListObject in my VB.Net project/app. The .Net wrapped version
allows me to bind to the listobject. The native Interop version does not.
Microsoft seems to be beating around the bush about how to do this or if
it's possible.

I've tried XMLImportXML from the native workbook object but it seems to run
slow after I get to a few thousand records. When I create an Office Excel
app/workbook with VS 2005 to populate my spreadsheet from the same dataset,
it takes 5 seconds versus 30.

in my vb.net app (2005) I'm doing something like this.
dim xapp as new microsoft.office.interop.excel.application
dim xbook as microsoft.office.tools.excel.workbook = xapp.workbooks.add

this doesn't work because you can't cast a .net wrapped object to a native
interopp object

btw there is no microsoft.office.tools.excel.application. WHY???!!!!!!
so what now?????