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Just because Daniel Baldwin struck out with Britney Spears doesnt mean the convalescing clipper-abuser (HairRecoveryWatch: Long enough to sustain a butterfly clip!) was completely closed off to the possibility of romance during her rehabilitative stay at Promises Malibu. The National Enquirer recently reported that Spears had embarked upon a journey of spiritual fulfillment and marathon face-sucking with Jason Filyaw, the "33-year-old lead guitarist of the rock band Riva." (Being unfamiliar with said band, we tracked down their website, which we promptly abandoned 15 words into an introductory bio that began, "Like a finely aged whiskey, the inside of this band is strong, smooth & nurtured...") TMZ then tracked down Filyaw, who offered some thoughts about his relationship with the "Crazy" and "Toxic" singer:

In an exclusive interview with TMZ, Filyaw, self-described as "very spiritual," would neither confirm nor deny that he is dating Spears, but admitted, "I love her, I support her 100% and we are close." Filyaw, who's been attending AA meetings with Spears, also revealed that he is helping Britney with the spiritually "deep" part of her recovery.

Britney has dabbled a ringed-toe into spiritual waters before, most famously as one of Madonna's Kabbalic disciples, but she eventually abandoned the mystic sect after being informed by an indignant Centre official that gnawing on a Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel during the Tisha Ba'av services was not a suitable replacement to donning their authorized red string bracelet. Perhaps, then, the "higher power" component was precisely the ingredient missing from Spears's recovery. And should Filyaw's comments to TMZ (a great place to confide in when you want to reveal how your "close" friend is progressing in rehab!) result in a noticeable bump in Google searches of his name or iTunes music sales, that will be nothing more than an unplanned, though extremely spiritually fulfilling, coincidence.