Vincent Hanley documentary

Fab Vinny 'kissy kissy'

(that was his catchphrase on 2fm or RTE Radio 2 as it was known back in the day)

His brother died in 2020 so all family gone as was mentioned last night, maybe that had to do with the timing of it, dunno!

I watched 'The Way we Were' programme few nights ago that covered 70/80s and I read Nell McCafferty's book on the Kerry Babies case recently, between those and last night's programme it really brings you back to what sort of life we lived back then. I was born in 1960 so all that stuff is relevant, it's hard to believe now, I had forgetten that you had to be married to get a prescription for condoms etc! Thankfully there was a few mail order options!

Shocking stuff looking back at it now.

Not all people from country areas, have country accents.

Well put together documentary, much more fleshed out than the Fab Vinnie one from a couple of years ago which at half an hour was too short.

Pat Benatar or Dennis De Young / Desert Moon for me. It was also the first time I saw acts such as The Cars and Bryan Adams. MTUSA was required viewing for a few years growing up, as we were starved of such entertainments those days; it knocked the spots off TOTP. The first 2 hours were mainstream videos, including triple plays, while the last hour was more indie stuff or lesser known artists.

Would love to see a few old episodes of it again complete with nascent 8-bit computer intro graphics.

Vincent Hanley is buried in St Patrick's cemetery in Clonmel.

Is that what he was at ?

I heard the MT USA tapes do not exist of the full programmes, a few clips are on You Tube though

Dire Straits Walk of Life is the song that comes immediately to mind when I recall MT USA. Raging I missed this show, will have to brave the player to watch it. I remember when he died, my mam told me it was pneumonia. It was only years later when I was googling the show that I found out he had died of aids.

I think it's very easy to judge history harshly by today's standards and knowledge.

In the early 80s not much was known about how AIDS was spread.

HIV itself was only labelled in 1986. So while he may have been HIV positive and looking back his friends may have pieced it together there's no way he was officially diagnosed as HIV positive before 86.

It was only when people were really sick that they got the AIDS diagnosis.

Its not homophobia if it was the truth. Things were portrayed that times were fairly crazy in the film Dallas Buyers Club. "I am gay and I can do what I like when I like with who I like" attitude. I was fairly young at the time and was not aware of the goings on. Its all just fun and games until someone gets sick and then everyone wonders if they are the next person going to get sick.

The memories of MTUSA... sitting in a mates house on a Sunday afternoon with a few of us watching it and drooling over Belinda Carlisle / Madonna / Kim Wilde.... memories. Outside the pretty girls I vividly remember the ZZ Top videos and Money for nothing video.

Anyway, I remember Vinny doing DJ in Katy Daly's in Killaloe one Saturday night, he was fantastic, was a real eye opener to see how much better one seriously professional DJ like he was, over the local DJ's. He had the floor full from beginning to the end of the night.

Talked to him briefly and seemed like a decent bloke, sad that he along with so many others died of HIV/Aids. Even worse is thinking how badly a lot of gay people were treated in those days. And I won't say I was any better than average in those times, I'd hope I'm a lot more tolerant now - I certainly try to be much more open minded about other people's choices anyway.

Program was interesting though, seemed like he enjoyed life to the fullest at least before he died.

Where our house was located we couldn't get RTE 2, reception was so bad we could just barely get 1. Our grandparents just up the hill had perfect reception so caught MT-USA the odd time there. Wasn't overly gone on the choice of songs, there was an overemphasis on American acts, yeah I know that was the point of the show, but a lot of what now would be termed yacht rock. The thing that looked most impressive at the time to me were the computer generated graphics for the opening titles and between break bumpers.

Have recorded this and look forward to watching it. I well remember MT USA as 'must see' viewing every week.

I wasn't very much aware of the Charles Self murder and investigation but from the details outlined by Bill Hughes on radio last Sunday, it was pretty awful. Add it to what we saw in 'Crimes and Confessions' a few weeks back and it gives a damming picture of policing in Ireland in that era.

I thought it was a good documentary. Vincent's sexuality was really the main topic of it. I suppose that's reasonable enough as it was the (forced) hiding of it that shaped him and informed his path in life.

Yeah, I think it definitely set the template for that show.

Well it was his sexuality that killed him. I don't mean that in a homophobic way either.

If he was an alcoholic or drug user you'd find they would have concentrated on that if he died of liver failure or over dose.

As he kept his private life very private I suppose there was always the question of how he caught the virus...was it an unlucky one night stand or a long term partner that didn't know they were sick until it was too late etc.

The documentary addressed this, he was engaging in extremely risky behaviour, as was his right as a consenting adult, but there was a certain inevitability that he would catch the virus in doing this. Maybe he felt it was worth the risk, maybe he thought it would never happen to him.

From a cultural point of view I did enjoy the documentary. The same way I enjoyed "it's a sin". I do however wonder about the purpose of the documentary. He lived his life in private. I don't think his friends were "setting the record straight" so it seems abit voyeuristic probing into a dead man's private life especially when he guarded it so well when he was alive.

Fair play to his friend giving him CPR though alot of people wouldn't, not in the 80's to someone with aids.