Bill, Tapeworm to the Stars 2

Oh geez, so it’s been awhile since I last posted. I have to tell you I’ve been having some trouble with my latest landlord, the Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s currently filming a new picture, Brothers, and the stress of shooting is hard on Jake. Shooting is apparently something Jake takes very seriously, and it’s always been incredibly hard on him. I’d heard this when I was living deep in his sister’s guts. Speaking of Maggie, let me just say, that girl is wack. She is not good living for a tapeworm. I’ve been around the block, and she’s just bad news. Her diet’s a mess, and she was drinking a ton of Crystal Light or something. That’s why I jumped ship and headed for her bro’s shit factory. It’s been pretty cool down here for a while, but then news of Heath Ledger (R.I.P) got him down. He wasn’t eating much for awhile. These two got to be pretty good friends, and I know Heath’s passing was difficult for Jake.

At any rate, I’m not here to talk to you about Jake Gyllenhaal or Heath Ledger. I’m here to tell you about the year 2000. Things were going well for me. As I mentioned previously, I’d been tunneling around in Anthony Bourdain for awhile. Then, one night I saw the perfect opportunity to climb the tapeworm ladder. Shania Twain just happened to drop in at Tony’s restaurant, Brasserie Les Halles. Well, at the time Shania Twain was the shit, and I wanted to be a part of her shit. So, I jumped shit, so to speak.

Living in Shania Twain was pretty sweet for awhile. She was on a break from her career. We spent a lot of time traveling. I really got to know Shania. The real Shania, not the crossover sellout that her record people were pushing her as. She even wanted me to call her Eilleen, her birth name, which I gladly did. She is a very real, lovable person down deep. It’s that damn recording industry that makes people look like assholes. And I should know . . . I’ve seen plenty.

So, after about a year together, Shania decided to get back into the studio and start recording a new album. I was all for that, but I said, “Shania, why don’t you do what you want to do?” She tried. She dumped her manager and felt she'd done the right thing. She was going to get back to her roots. Well, you never know who you can trust in this business, and her new management company Qprime was even worse than her previous. They wanted to really push the crossover queen angle, and this really sent Shania into a downward spiral emotionally.

She did as they beckoned and began to fall apart spiritually, emotionally, and physically, too. As her diet got out of control, I started to get sickly. I knew I couldn’t go on like this any longer, so I decided to move on. I’ll always remember my time with Eilleen fondly, but a tapeworm’s gotta eat.

Did I fall in love with Eilleen? I think I did. In fact, I know I did, and I’m going to share something with you that I’ve never shared with anyone in my life. When I left Shania’s lower GI, she was in the process of writing songs for her 2002 album Up!. She was stuck. Totally blocked as a songwriter. She was not eating for days at a time. Drinking very little. She’d stopped talking to me, and I just couldn’t live in those conditions any longer. Before I left, though, I wrote down for her a song that I had written 6 months or so earlier about our blossoming relationship. That song was “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” You might remember it. It was the number 1 single on that album. It hurt me every time I heard that song to know how wrong things had gone between me and Shania, but I was happy to see her get some final joy out of our time together.

I know a lot of you are thinking, "Yeah, right, a tapeworm that writes music," but it's true. I write these blog posts don't I? It may be hard to believe that a tapeworm can write lyrics, but just read some of these lines from the song and tell me they weren’t written by a tapeworm.

Don't wantcha for the weekend, don't wantcha for a night
I'm only interested if I can have you for life, yeah
Uh, I know I sound serious and baby I am
You're a fine piece of real estate, and I'm gonna get me some land

Thanks for reading. Hope to be back soon.

Bill