Live=Live

Living Life to the fullest with Live Entertainment: "Live Live"

I’ve been wanting to dissect this word play since the start of the pandemic when I had a weird epiphany that the word “Live” (defined as a verb: to breath, to exist, to take advantage of all the great things in the world, to be alive, a “carpe diem” kind of thing) or make one’s home in a particular place, and the word “Live” the adjective (as in live music, live performance, happening at this precise moment, the kind of stuff that got shut down immediately when there was an air-borne spread of an infectious disease) and something connected to energy or electricity.   The words are spelled exactly the same--yet sound and mean different, but connected things about essential aspects of human existence and our engagement with the world around us.   

Live and Live, not a typo, how weird, right.  In fact, when I first thought about this, I had to relook at the words and look them up again online, as I thought I was tripping or having an aneurysm or something.  For 60-plus years of speaking and thinking, using the words interchangeably, and even singing with Tevia “To Life, to life, L’chaim”, I’ve never thought about the spelling being the same of these two essential words of our lexicon. Durng the pandemic, the contrast between living life to the fullest and the shutdown of live experiences indeed highlighted the importance of direct, in-the-moment interactions.  Many of us turned to digital means to stay connect and entertained, but these experiences don’t compare to the real, tangible, live events. 

I thought it was such an insight that I brought it up to a few friends and said, “Dude, isn’t it cool these two words are spelled the same, but are different.”  I got funny looks.  I’ve thought that it would make such a great marketing campaign for City Winery, or NYC in general, go out and live life to the fullest, drink some wine and watch live music, you got to live live. A giant billboard campaign for theatre to get people to go out again after the pandemic.  A poignant reminder of it means to truly live, embrace live again in a post-pandemic, rich, immediate experience only live events can offer.  Live=Live.   But Apple spell checker just underlined the second live with a red line meaning the Apple Intelligence just thought I repeated the same word.   Something is wrong, but is it?

I didn’t know this, but Google told me, if two words are spelled identically but pronounced differently and have different meanings, they are called “heteronyms”.   My feeling is if I was called a heteronym on the street, I would not know how to take it.  I’ve heard of homonyms, (so I guess I’m more of a heteronyms), but I’m way off subject now and probably in trouble as well. 

The heteronym "live" delves deep into life’s essence. How we subsist, or live our lives.  Do we choose to live live, experiencing everything the world has in the moment, right now, or do we want to experience it through a screen, time shifted, not-live.  Is live music the same on YouTube or is watching SNL on Sunday morning on the computer as funny?  I love scrolling through Dave Chappelle bits online,  but being in a small venue 20 feet away from him—well, it’s not even close to the same thing.  Even seeing photos of Michelangelo’s David in a fancy book does no justice to being up close and walking around his butt cheeks. 

Going to a music festival is living live.  Watching the movie of it, while it could be wonderful, is simply not as good.   Now when someone asks me where do I live, it is hard to say, well, I live in Tribeca.  Because, while I might make my domicile there, I am living in the moment, I am working hard to make a living pushing live entertainment, getting people to indulge their senses and live life to the fullest, make every moment count, come see a live show, drink real wine from a Riedel glass and truly live live.  Let’s strive to “live live”—to fully engage with the world in all its spontaneity and excitement.  Whether it’s through attending live music shows, theater, or simply being present in our everyday interactions, there’s a unique vibrancy in these fleeting moments that enriches our lives in ways that digitized experiences can’t replicate.