<I>

  <&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One</&>
  <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies</&>
  <&>Victoria University of Wellington</&>

  <&>side one</&>
  <&>0:40</&>
  

  <WSC#DGI130:0005:IN>
      entertainer gary mccormick appears regularly in the media in
      print radio and television

  <WSC#DGI130:0010:IN>
      often he's taking a good natured poke at what he sees as the
      absurdities of new zealand life but behind the clowning is a
      person who feels very strongly about being a new zealander and
      giving <&>1:00</&> people a fair go

  <WSC#DGI130:0015:IN>
      in his early twenties what he acknowledges was his iDEALism lead
      him to stand for the porirua city council

  <WSC#DGI130:0020:IN>
      gary mccormick describes it now as an interesting time

  <WSC#DGI130:0025:GM>
      i was elected to the porirua city council by a margin of one
      vote

  <WSC#DGI130:0030:GM>
      er in fact the labour party at the time actually contested the
      result in a magisterial recount

  <WSC#DGI130:0035:GM>
      er i was elected by the people of porirua because i had been
      conspicuous running dances for young people in the city

  <WSC#DGI130:0040:GM>
      in fact there was virtually no entertainment for young people in
      the city when i started a group called the porirua youth council
      and on the strength of that i received a number of votes at the
      election and ended up sitting on the porirua city COUNcil and
      naively i think i thought that probably <&>pronounced trobably</&>
      <.>ch</.> certain changes could be brought about

  <WSC#DGI130:0045:GM>
      unfortunately in porirua at that time there was a stalemate
      really between a conservative faction and a very small liberal
      <&>2:00</&> group consisting <laughs>largely</laughs> of er
      helen smith who was the first values candidate in new zealand i
      think to win an election to a body like that er ken gray the all
      black captain although he wasn't captain at the time and myself

  <WSC#DGI130:0050:GM>
      we <.>w</.> so it was three upping against thirteen and the
      reason i packed it in after about eighteen months or twenty
      months was the fact that we just didn't seem to be getting
      anywhere

  <WSC#DGI130:0055:GM>
      we were REALly wasting our time and energy <drawls>and</drawls>
      it was driving me crazy and <.>i</.> i just found it all so
      frustrating sad and there were quite often very bitter exchanges
      and it was just no fun to be there and because we weren't making
      any headway it seemed pointless to stay and i decided there were
      other things to do so OFF i went

  <WSC#DGI130:0060:IN>
      what were you hoping to achieve when you went in there

  <WSC#DGI130:0065:GM>
      i didn't really know much about politics at all

  <WSC#DGI130:0070:GM>
      i went in with a quite simple some would say simplistic idea
      that um you could quite easily <&>3:00</&> convince people that
      we needed for example more facilities for <laughs>young</laughs>
      people in the city and er more services and then of course it
      turned out that that wasn't the case

  <WSC#DGI130:0075:GM>
      um i since know a lot more about this but er there was no way we
      were going to be able to bring those things about at that time

  <WSC#DGI130:0080:GM>
      there wasn't the money and there <.>w</.> certainly wasn't the
      inclination from central government er national government at
      the time <drawls>and</drawls> indeed the <.>p</.> good many of
      the people who were on the council er led relatively privileged
      lives in terms of life in porirua and they weren't in any great
      hurry to make any difference to the state housing areas around
      so er <O>voc</O> that's the reason why we didn't get anywhere
      and i <?><.>w</.></?> <unclear>word</unclear> i was aPPALLed by
      how little we managed to achieve

  <WSC#DGI130:0085:IN>
      you were i guess somewhat idealistic then were you?

  <WSC#DGI130:0090:GM>
      i was VERy idealistic in fact i'm STILL idealistic which is the
      interesting thing

  <WSC#DGI130:0095:GM>
      er i just WOULDn't WASTE my energy er in certain types of forums
      any more because i realise those are NOT the forums that
      necessarily lead <&>4:00</&> to change and likewise i am NOT
      really ideally suited in terms of temperament er for endless
      dull meetings and the frustrations that go with politics and i'm
      quite critical of politicians both national and local in my
      various capacities as a commentator

  <WSC#DGI130:0100:GM>
      er at the same time i do <drawls>admire</drawls> their
      perseverance in many cases the fact that they <laughs>do go
      through all the stuff and they keep going through it

  <WSC#DGI130:0105:GM>
      i can't</laughs> fully understand why but they manage to do it
      and i give them credit for that much

  <WSC#DGI130:0110:GM>
      i don't think that i'm capable of that sort of carry on even at
      my now approaching middle age or middle aged capacity as a forty
      year old i don't think i could handle even now

  <WSC#DGI130:0115:IN>
      yeah round about that time <.>i</.> <.>i</.> if i remember this
      quote correctly you said something like um in twenty <drawls>years</drawls>
      new zealand will be a great place

  <WSC#DGI130:0120:GM>
      yes well <.>i</.> <.>i</.> think that that's RIGHT

  <WSC#DGI130:0125:GM>
      i think it IS a great place in some areas and in fact i
      <&>5:00</&> do seem to <.>s</.> feel strongly <.>th</.> that
      these things happen in sort of twenty year bursts

  <WSC#DGI130:0130:GM>
      for example new zealand now is er much more multi cultural than
      it was

  <WSC#DGI130:0135:GM>
      i mean it's exciting

  <WSC#DGI130:0140:GM>
      i was on the plane the other day with tipene oregan we were
      talking about some of the enterprises that maoridom have come
      out with and i think they're so exciting

  <WSC#DGI130:0145:GM>
      er i completed a documentary in <.>th</.> in the past twelve
      months about GISborne called gisborne strikes back which
      recently screened on television one and that reflected to my
      mind a very exciting town this provincial town which now has er
      all sorts of strengths coming to the fore so my feeling when i
      originally said that in twenty years time new zealand will be a
      great place i think was a reference to various forces coming
      through people ideas cultural things um a willingness <drawls>er
      to</drawls> acknowledge the strengths of everybody in the
      community the different types of groups the different people
      <&>6:00</&> and that it would be a more diverse place and i
      think it is and we NOW have to make the NEXT leap forward in new
      zealand which is to give everybody a fairer deal

  <WSC#DGI130:0150:GM>
      for some <.>ur</.> unknown reason in recent times um people
      haven't been getting that fair deal any more and er that goes
      completely against what i understand kiwi life to be so i think
      we've had this aberration with sort of er the douglas thing
      rogernomics as it was called though i hate to give a name to er
      the name of a man to that horrible thing that happened in new
      zealand but this er neglect of people at <?>a</?> certain end of
      the er <.>s</.> social <.>s</.> scale er i think has been a
      terrible thing so we've got to get back that back on track again
      in the next twenty years

  <WSC#DGI130:0155:IN>
      just cast your mind back to that time you took off for gisborne
      i think it was was it the first time you'd <laughs>taken off</laughs>
      for gisborne um <latch>

  <WSC#DGI130:0160:GM>
      i'd been there once or twice before just on surfing trips but er
      in fact i'd looked at a number of places around the country

  <WSC#DGI130:0165:GM>
      <.>o</.> on the west coast new plymouth er taranaki i'd been
      around there and up to northland um but i <&>7:00</&> decided
      that gisborne was the most attractive sort of place for the sort
      of lifestyle thing that i wanted so OFF i went to gisborne and
      been there ever since <laughs>apart from the er the <?>obvious</?>
      trips away</laughs> and all sorts of other projects but i'm
      based there

  <WSC#DGI130:0170:IN>
      one of the things that happened to you there apart from surfing
      was that um you continued writing poetry perhaps took it a bit
      more seriously then did you than you had in the past?

  <WSC#DGI130:0175:GM>
      quite right

  <WSC#DGI130:0180:GM>
      oh you've done some research here

  <WSC#DGI130:0185:GM>
      <{><[>it's very good <O>laughs</O></[>

  <WSC#DGI130:0190:GM>
      you're quite right i did do that i um when i was up in gisborne
      after a year of sort of surfing and doing odd jobs around the
      place um i was running a poultry farm at one stage

  <WSC#DGI130:0195:GM>
      i <.>at</.> had been scribbling away all that time and then <.>i</.>
      it started to become more important to me to have some sort of
      outlet for the things that i felt strongly about and um poems
      became that outlet really and i was just scribbling for my own
      benefit until i met a chap called john benson er now deceased
      i'm sorry to say and he was writing poems as well and we did our
      first book <&>8:00</&> of poems together called gypsies and we
      then went on the road in an astonishing act of audacity
      believing that people would listen to us <laughs>and it was over
      a summer</laughs> and we stopped off in all sorts of beach <.>p</.>
      resorts and read poems and people bought our books and that's
      how we got started and it was in gisborne that <.>i</.> i had a
      second book published which won a pen poetry award

  <WSC#DGI130:0200:GM>
      it was called <title>naked and nameless</title> and um <O>voc</O>
      out of the blue i received a cheque in the mail and this award
      and er that i think in turn led to the start of touring with
      people like sam hunt and so on so forth so yes it did all start
      in gisborne at the beach

  <WSC#DGI130:0205:IN>
      <[><?>i have</?> <O>laughs</O></[></{>

  <WSC#DGI130:0210:IN>
      much of your poetry i think was about people and how they work
      and about yourself

  <WSC#DGI130:0215:GM>
      right <latch>

  <WSC#DGI130:0220:IN>
      it's sort of people poetry <quietly><?>if you like</?></quietly>

  <WSC#DGI130:0225:GM>
      yes <{><[><.>i</.></[> I think so yes

  <WSC#DGI130:0230:GM>
      it's never been too abstract or at least i'd hope not um

  <WSC#DGI130:0235:GM>
      yes there's <.>a</.> i think each of the books that i've had
      published er <drawls>are</drawls> DIFFerent but <&>9:00</&> they
      do have this fairly intense interest in how people and things
      work in this country so in that sense it's very localised poetry
      and i think that's the reason why in both sam hunt's and my own
      case people would bother to come along and listen to us

  <WSC#DGI130:0240:GM>
      you know <.>they</.> it made sense to them

  <WSC#DGI130:0245:IN>
      <[>mainly</[></{>

  <WSC#DGI130:0250:IN>
      what's happened to the poet

  <WSC#DGI130:0255:GM>
      <?>he's</?> still THERE

  <WSC#DGI130:0260:GM>
      er i often think poetry <.>is</.> it's really or to be a poet is
      to have a sense of space and distance and DIStance is the key
      and <.>i</.> i've looked at the musings of other people who
      write poetry whom i respect <drawls>and um</drawls> they often
      say the same things in different ways

  <WSC#DGI130:0265:GM>
      it's the sense of DIStance from other people

  <WSC#DGI130:0270:GM>
      i mean i AM an observer of life even no matter how much i'm
      involved in television or radio or whatever else i'm doing i'm
      ALways separate

  <WSC#DGI130:0275:GM>
      i don't hang around for example when i do live shows

  <WSC#DGI130:0280:GM>
      i don't stand around afterwards at the bar and talk for hours
      <?>with people</?> and i like to GET AWAY and look back move off
      to <.>the</.> er you know a decent <laughs>space</laughs> and
      and think about it <&>10:00</&>

  <WSC#DGI130:0285:GM>
      i NEED that time to think about things and er and i think that's
      the poetry thing in me

  <WSC#DGI130:0290:GM>
      it's still there and i'm still writing poems i just haven't been
      bothered publishing them because i still need that outlet and i
      still value that sense of space which i think is the source of
      poetry for people who write it

  <WSC#DGI130:0295:IN>
      <drawls>in nineteen</drawls> eighty two i think it was you had a
      serious <.>and</.> <?>well</?> it was a tragic car accident

  <WSC#DGI130:0300:IN>
      you lost your girlfriend <?>that</?> dianne colombus

  <WSC#DGI130:0305:IN>
      er what happened for you in that

  <WSC#DGI130:0310:IN>
      that must have been quite <.>a</.> a VERY traumatic experience

  <WSC#DGI130:0315:GM>
      yes it was very interesting because <drawls>er</drawls> how
      these things happen

  <WSC#DGI130:0320:GM>
      i mean people don't know in advance generally speaking that
      things like that are going to happen to them um but <.>di</.> i
      was on the road then with a rock band

  <WSC#DGI130:0325:GM>
      i'd moved on from the poetry thing doing tours with sam alone
      and i'd started doing support acts for various touring rock and
      roll bands er which in those days was big business and er <.>we</.>
      <&>11:00</&> <.>i</.> the top bands in new zealand used to get
      you know <.>ten</.> er ten hundred twelve hundred people a night
      and i was touring with dave dobbyn or about to start a tour dave
      dobbyn

  <WSC#DGI130:0330:GM>
      i was driving north and dianne and i were in the zephyr at the
      time and <.>w</.> strange enough that very morning we'd
      discussed our entire relationship from when we FIRST met when i
      was doing a poetry reading at canterbury university and standing
      on a table making a fool of myself and she must have taken pity
      on me or something <?>or other</?> and taken me under her
      protective wing and we discussed this right through until the
      various tours we'd done and the fact that she'd moved up to
      gisborne to where i'd <?>at</?> that time bought a house and so
      on so forth

  <WSC#DGI130:0335:GM>
      we'd just finished discussing this when we arrived in taihape
      and drove through taihape and it was only a few miles on the
      other side of taihape that a truck lost control coming round a
      corner and ran over the top of the car and that was it

  <WSC#DGI130:0340:GM>
      i mean that was the end <.>of</.> of that relationship

  <WSC#DGI130:0345:GM>
      it <.>w</.> <.>w</.> WAS interesting on that drive north for
      some peculiar reason we had discussed ALL of these things so um
      YES it WAS <&>12:00</&> er traumatic and it er <?>the</?> next
      thing that happened was i was disturbed by the lack of action in
      bringing people to account

  <WSC#DGI130:0350:GM>
      this may be my idealism once again but i felt that um there
      should have been more answers given and so i took a private
      prosecution against the trucking company and the driver because
      the police wouldn't do it <drawls>and er</drawls> i filed the
      papers myself actually in nelson <?>while</?> i was on another
      tour

  <WSC#DGI130:0355:GM>
      LUCKily didn't make any mistakes but then was faced with having
      to take <?>them</?> to court and er mike bungay is a very
      compassionate man and i <.>w</.> i never met him before in my
      life

  <WSC#DGI130:0360:GM>
      i walked into his office told him the details and mike took the
      case and so the next six months was very much involved in er
      getting all the evidence together and bits and pieces to go to
      court

  <WSC#DGI130:0365:GM>
      at the time it caused quite a fuss because it's very rare that a
      private prosecution <?>of</?> that kind takes place in fact the
      dominion newspaper in wellington er wrote an editorial about it
      as i recall and we <&>13:00</&> were able to sheet home the
      responsibility er for the accident so that that trucking company
      and the people involved were called to account so that did take
      a you know a good eighteen months of my life in a sense getting
      over that <drawls>um</drawls> and indeed <.>f</.> some <.>p</.>
      friends of mine er mainly in the music business that i was still
      touring with would say that it probably took me longer

  <WSC#DGI130:0370:GM>
      <.>w</.> <.>i</.> probably went into a fairly RAUcous phase in
      my life then for maybe it was two and a half years probably
      before i sort of slowed down again <.>and</.> and just sat down
      quietly <.>and</.> and DEALT with the er with the problem of
      adjusting to life without a person who was a very imPRESSive and
      very special woman dianne so YES that does happen and i you know
      <.>th</.> <.>th</.> the <.>only</.> the thing <.>th</.> that
      stays with me now about it is you know there's er some terrible
      things happening to people all over the place and possibly
      having an experience like that makes you more aware and more
      understanding <.>of</.> of you know the fact that <&>14:00</&>
      human life on the planet is a pretty tenuous existence and you
      got to appreciate every moment of it <&>14:04</&>
</I>
