Odds & Ends: Aiken, Hallyday And Vevo

Some Day For Hallyday

He’s touted as France’s biggest rock star but his current engagement is in a Southern California hospital.

Johnny Hallyday has been hospitalized in Los Angeles while on a multi-city tour – dubbed “Route 66” – a moniker that reflects the rocker’s age as well as American rock ‘n’ roll.

Hallyday’s health hasn’t been all that great. Earlier this year he underwent surgery to have a cancerous polyp removed from his colon and on Nov. 26 found himself going yet again under the blade for a herniated disc.

According to his representatives, Hallyday is suffering from an infection after the back surgery, but “is reacting satisfactorily to antibiotics.”

Click here for the Johnny Hallyday Web site.

Aiken Ain’t Votin’

Clay Aiken has asked election officials in Wake County, N.C. to remove his name from voting rolls, thus ending an investigation into whether the “American Idol” runner-up had voted illegally.

Earlier this year the local Republican Party chairman filed a complaint against Aiken because the singer had voted in Wake County elections even though his actual residence is in neighboring Chatham County.

Now the county elections board has voted unanimously to remove the performer from its list of voters, thus ending the investigation and keeping future Wake County elections safe from Aiken’s political fury.

Vevo Debuts

Vevo, the new online music video service supported by three of the four major labels, has launched.

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have stakes in the video service, and earlier this week Vevo announced a content deal with EMI. Missing so far is Warner Music Group which is reportedly focusing on its YouTube channel.

Vevo’s interface is easy enough to use. Click on an artist, watch an ad and then view the video. Plus, like YouTube and other services,you can send links to your friends as well as embed code in social networking pages, blogs and Web sites.

Vevo also has some interesting features, such as a lyrics option enabling you to follow the words while a video plays.

You can also log in through your Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Twitter or Facebook accounts. Which might be a good idea judging from our experience during the service’s first 24 hours.

We tried to create a new account, but our first attempt was rejected because Vevo claimed our e-mail address was invalid. After trying a different address, the site told us our user name was already taken.

Then, when we submitted what was thought to be a perfectly good user name and e-mail address, Vevo responded with a generic error message. Oh, well, first day problems and all that. Maybe you’ll have better luck. Just click here.