Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers, more specifically aliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides. They can be melt-processed into fibers, films or shapes. The first example of nylon (nylon 66) was produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. Nylon polymers have found significant commercial applications in fibers (apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), in shapes (molded parts for cars, electrical equipment, etc.), and in films (mostly for food packaging)

Overview

Nylon is a thermoplastic, silky material, first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush (1938), followed more famously by women's stockings ("nylons"; 1940) after being introduced as a fabric at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Nylon is made of repeating units linked by peptide bonds and is a type of polyamide and is frequently referred to as such Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer. Commercially, nylon polymer is made by reacting monomers which are either lactams, acid/amines or stoichiometric mixtures of diamines (-NH₂) and diacids (-COOH). Mixtures of these can be polymerized together to make copolymers. Nylon polymers can be mixed with a wide variety of additives to achieve many different property variations.

Nylon (album)

Nylon is a Greek album by singer Anna Vissi, released in Greece and Cyprus on September 28, 2005, and subsequently in select European countries and Taiwan. The album was released as a DualDisc on October 10, 2005, the first of its kind in Greece, and re-released on May 2, 2006 with the title Nylon: Euro-Edition as a tie-in to Vissi's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The album reached Platinum status in less than 24 hours after its release.

Album information

Released in September 2005, Nylon was Anna Vissi's first studio album since the commercially successful 2003 Paraksenes Eikones. Vissi characterized Nylon as her best album so far, with Nikos Karvelas paying a lot of attention to the lyrics of the songs he had written.

Upon release, Nylon went platinum within 24 hours in Greece. In October 2005, the album was released on the DualDisc format, the first ever in Greece, with the title Nylon: DualDisc. The DualDisc version featured bonus songs and as well as special footage from the recording studio.

Nylon (band)

Nylon (now The Charlies) is an Icelandic girl group composed of members Alma Goodman (born Alma Guðmundsdóttir), Camilla Stones (born Steinunn Þóra Camilla Sigurðardóttir) and Klara Elias (born Klara Ósk Elíasdóttir). They are Iceland's most successful singer/songwriter girl-band, producing ten number one singles, three number one studio albums, one number one compilation and one number one DVD in Iceland.

History

2004-2005: 100% Nylon and Góðir Hlutir

The group was formed after auditions in Iceland, which Alma, Camilla and Klara attended. A few weeks after the auditions, Emilia was asked whether she would like to be in the band, and after meeting them, she accepted the offer. The group sings pop music in English and Icelandic. Their first single, "Lög Unga Fólksins" (which means "The Young People's Song" in English), was released in April 2004 and went straight to number one. The group have had huge success in their native country of Iceland: achieving a total of 13 Number 1 singles to date, a TV show about their first summer as a girlband, three chart topping albums, and a book entitled "100% Nylon" (which instantly became a best seller). They have also released a DVD entitled "Nylon Allstaðar", which contained their smash hit TV show as well as other bonus features.

Barn dance

A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.

The term “barn dance” is usually associated with family-oriented or community-oriented events, usually for people who do not normally dance. The caller will, therefore, generally use easy dances so that everyone can join in.

A barn dance can be a Ceilidh, with traditional Irish or Scottish dancing, and people unfamiliar with either format often confuse the two terms. However, a barn dance can also feature square dancing, Contra dancing, English Country Dance, dancing to Country and Western music, or any other kind of dancing, often with a live band and a Caller.

Barn dances, as social dances, were popular in Ireland until the 1950s, and were typically danced to tunes with 4/4 rhythms.

Radio adaptations

WLS in Chicago is credited with developing the “barn dance” radio format, which was in large part responsible for the advent of country music in the United States. The National Barn Dance began as a program of old-time fiddling on April 19, 1924, with George D. Hay as the show's host and announcer. A year-and-a-half later, Hay moved to Nashville, Tennessee and brought in an old-time fiddler to launch the WSM Barn Dance; this show is now known as the Grand Ole Opry and remains on the air to this day. Dozens of similar programs cropped up on AM radio stations all across the United States, from New England to Los Angeles, including the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia (1933), the Renfro Valley Barn Dance in Kentucky (1939), the Louisiana Hayride (1948), the Tennessee Jamboree (1953) and Ozark Jubilee (1954). Television adaptations (often under the guise of early variety shows) were popular in the 1950s and early 1960s but eventually faded out of style.