We're on Twitter!

We've finally joined the world of Twitter!

You can find us at www.Twitter.com/Infinitely_More

New "Hair Cut for Cancer" Video!

I've finally put together a video from my recent 10 inch hair donation!

We've also created a new page on our website to share the video, photos, and info on how you can donate your hair.

For years, I had long hair and never even knew I could donate it. The only reason I started donating was when I heard someone else sharing their story.

Please feel free to share this link & video with your friends!

Our new Cut for Cancer page: 

www.InfinitelyMore.ca/CutforCancer

Here's the video - enjoy!

The Beads Songwriter Night

Tonight felt so Nashville!

Our friend, Susan Hookong-Taylor invited us to be part of her songwriting series, The Beads. We performed in the event room of the charming Family Tree House Cafe. 

Gerald and I took the opportunity to sing a lot of songs from our upcoming CDs, such as You Take Me Higher, Real Big Fan, and You Are. It was great to play them for a new audience and get such positive feedback. We also had the chance to jam out a few worship songs with Susan - so great to play with such a talented lady!

With Susan Hookong-Taylor.

After the show, we spent a long time chatting, sharing stories, and eating late night ice-cream. 

We'll definitely be back... and yes we'll have more ice-cream, please!

Ascension Sunday at St. John's York Mills

Today, we doubled up at St. John's York Mills as we helped lead both the morning service and the evening Gathering in a celebration of the Ascension.

Okay, a week ago, I don't know if I was that excited about celebrating the Ascension. In theory, I would have defined it as a good thing - Jesus going up to Heaven can't be all that bad. But in reality, I really had never given it a second thought.

As I planned our Gathering music, I looked to songs that had themes of praise and exultation - "God on high" and that kind of thing - and I think that was on the mark.

But as I dug deeper, I began to see the beauty of the Ascension, 

 the reminder that Jesus didn't die a second time. 

He's still living, 

still able to hear our prayers, 

still waiting for us on the other side.

That changed everything.

At tonight's Gathering, a woman shared the story of her near-death experience. I've known this woman for a while. She's smart and sensible. She's not one for exaggeration. But she told this phenomenal, beautiful story about coming close to death, and feeling surrounded by the full and all-encompassing love of God. I could retell all her words, and I could never come close to truly capturing the feeling of love, acceptance, and grace that was shining in her eyes as she told her story.

That's the Ascension.

... God living ...

... loving us now ...

.... waiting to receive us home ...

So that's what we celebrated tonight...

The Ascension stained glass window at St. John's York Mills.

The Vocal Sessions Begin...

Since we recorded the instrumental tracks for our new CD in March, we've been searching for the right place to record our vocal tracks. We wanted a studio with great vocal mics, a strong knowledge of Christian music, a great ear for harmony, and in an ideal world, somewhere close to our house.

And we found it! So tonight, we went to Emmanuel Recording Studios for our first vocal session.

Gerald and I have a really tight musical synergy when we perform live. Our voices blend seamlessly, and we can follow each other's every move. The challenge is capturing that in the studio.

Between the Infinitely More CD and Gerald's songwriting project, we're going to have lots of sessions over the next few months, so we decided to treat tonight as a playground session. We experimented with different mics, played with the song, tried different ways of recording our sound, and just got used to the whole set up.

Gerald and Carmon trying out different mics.

I'll be taking a photo or two at every session, and you can visit our photo album to see the whole set.

My 3rd Cut for Cancer

As we speak, 10 inches of my hair is in the hands of Canada Post.

My family and I gathered today for my 3rd Cut for Cancer. The first happened when we were living in Nashville and the second in Toronto.

Donating your hair is a fascinating process. During my first growing period, I was washing my hair one night, and I realized, "This isn't my hair!" The hair at the top of my head was mine, but the long strands in my hands actually belonged to someone else. Like a surrogate, I was caring for this hair until it was ready to be delivered to someone else.

At that point, I began praying for the woman who would get my hair. I imagined all the different things she could be - a mother, a grandmother, a teenager, an artist, a business woman, a woman of faith, an atheist. I wondered how far along she was in her disease. Maybe she didn't even know she was going to get sick. I prayed for healing, for all those who would handle getting my hair to her, and no matter what her faith walk, I prayed she would feel God's peace in her life.

The process has been no less profound this third time around.

At today's cut, Mom, Dad, Gerald, and I discussed the unique consequences of hair donations. With surrogacy, you know who owns the baby and where it's going next. With organ donations, you either know your recipient, or you've died and the whole process is anonymous. I think the closest similarity is blood donors - it's anonymous, and we're all walking around the next day. Who knows? I could ride the bus some day with the woman who's wearing my hair, and neither of us would be the wiser.

So my hair has been snipped and shipped, and I feel fantastic. Physically, I really do feel lighter! And I feel thankful that I have the hair to donate.

All this week, I've been reminded of these words from the Book of Common Prayer:

And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, 

our selves, our souls and bodies, 

to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto Thee…

The cut is done! Me and my 10-inch ponytails!

I'll be posting photos and a video of the day on our site soon, but in the meantime, you can view photos on our Infinitely More Facebook page.

Book Review: A Year With Jesus, by R.P. Nettelhorst

It's been ages since I've reviewed a book! Not that I haven't read a slew of them, but it's just been a while since my last review.

Here we go:

"A Year With Jesus" is a devotional based on the words of Christ. Devotionals can be a real mixed bag for me. I find it so inconvenient when only the scripture reference is given, so you need to pull out a second book to look it up. And combine that with a flippant little interpretation about the passage, well, sometimes it just seems like a wasted death of a tree.

Happily, this book is something different. Each page contains a passage of scripture that includes the words of Jesus, and a meaningful piece of application. The scripture is long enough to actually give you a sense of context and story. The year is divided into themes of contrast and struggle: Love and Hate, Truths and Lies, Arrogance and Humility, Friends and Enemies, Deserved and Undeserved, and so on.

I really appreciate the style of this book. The entries are numbered but not dated, so you can pick it up anytime and start reading from any spot. It's the perfect length for a daily devotional, or it could also be used to read and reflect on a particular theme. Overall, I've really enjoyed this book, and it's earned a place in my daily reading book pile.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cause one CD is never enough...

This spring, we took on the long-awaited challenge of recording our first Infinitely More CD. We visited Nashville to record the instrumental tracks, and after much searching, we've found an awesome studio in Toronto to capture our vocals. This Saturday, we'll lay down our first vocal session!

Making a CD is always a challenge, and things are moving smoothly.

But then....

We got to thinking (always a dangerous notion for the Creative Brain) - Gerald recorded demos of his country songs a few years ago.

What if we removed the demo singer's vocals, had Gerald record his own vocals, and then released a solo CD for Gerald?

So that's what we're doing!

After going through the demos, we chose 5 tracks that we thought would fit well on a country, inspirational, songwriter type of CD.

As we speak, Gerald is upstairs on Skype, working with our producer and the session players, recording 5 more tracks to fill out the CD.

If you've been to any of our concerts in the past year, you'll recognize many of the songs on this project, including one of my favourites, "Every Church is a Small Town."

Arg!! Two CDs!!! My practical mind is thinking: twice the finances, twice the work, twice the stress.

But my Creative Brain is thinking: 

10 times the creativity, 

100 times the adventure, 

1000 more ways to put some good out into the world.

I think I'll let my Creative Brain take control...

New looks!

Over the next few days, I'm doing some experimenting with the template and format for my blog! It'll be like the weather in Newfoundland - changing every 5 minutes! (I can make that joke, being a Newfoundlander and all...)

I'd love your feedback on colours, format, and things you'd like to see on the new and improved Adventures of a Starving Artist blog!

New Video - Nearer My God to Thee

Last Sunday, we had a special night at The Gathering. Drew decided to preach Karl Barth's famous sermon on the sinking of the Titanic. The original sermon was preached just a week after the sinking, but the messages are still relevant 100 years later.

To highlight the story of those lost, especially the musicians, we ended the service with the classic hymn, Nearer My God To Thee.

You can see the video of Nearer My God To Thee HERE.

New Video - In Flanders Fields

Last November, Gerald wrote a new musical setting for the classic WWI poem, "In Flanders Fields."

This week, we remembered the anniversary of Vimy Ridge by creating a little home video of the song.

You can find it HERE.

The Vimy Ridge memorial.

The designer, Walter Seymour Allward, is buried in the churchyard at

St. John's York Mills - our home church for The Gathering.

Happy Easter - FREE PRESENTS!!

To celebrate Easter, we'd like to give you some presents for your cyber-Easter basket!

First, we'd like to give you a FREE DOWNLOAD of our recording of

"In the Garden."

We recorded this classic Easter hymn for my second Nashville CD, Hymns in the Key of Grace. Jazz pianist, Teri Reid, created a beautiful accompaniment and piano solo. And on vocals, I'm joined by my friend and mentor, Gaither Homecoming artist, Allison Durham Speer.

To receive your free download, please visit HERE.

As a second little present, I've created a video of "In the Garden"! I've used photos taken by myself and my Dad, Rev. Hollis Hiscock, that show gardens we've loved from Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New York.

You can see the video HERE.

Please feel free to share these links and share the love!

Have a blessed and joyful Easter season!!!!

Good Friday

A day that blends tragedy, redemption, and hope.

The cross at St. John's York Mills.

We joined the congregation at St. John's York Mills this morning and sang Gerald's song, The Good Tree. This is one of my favourite Gerald-songs. It tells the "story" of the tree that became the cross that carried Christ. It was so awesome to share this song during this time of worship.

A day for silence and meditation,

but Sunday's coming...

Recording for The Gathering

We're creating a youtube commercial for The Gathering. It'll combine the talents of our band, tech team, and clergy to give people a sense of what they'll experience on a Sunday night at St. John's.

Today, we recorded a quick vocal for our song You Take Me Higher, using the track we recorded in Nashville. (We debated recording the band, but it was just easier to coordinate with the track.) Here's a photo of Gerald and Derwyn listening to the mix. I'll post the video when it's live!

Palm Sunday!

The Gathering is usually a free-flowing format of music, prayer, and message. Tonight, we shook things up to celebrate Palm Sunday and prepare people for Holy Week.

Palm branches in the lobby of the church.

After our opening songs of praise, we presented a dramatic reading from Mark's Gospel, starting with Palm Sunday, and reading through to the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. At specific points, we sang a song to emphasize that part of the story. At the Last Supper, we sang the Communion hymn, "Behold the Lamb" (Getty/Getty/Townend). At Gethsemane, I sang "Gethsemane Hymn" (Getty/Townend) as a solo. As we took people through the steps of the crucifixion, Gerald and I sang verses of "Were You There" (traditional) with Gerald's beautiful guitar arrangement.

We ended with a short reflection by Drew, and some great songs about the cross. The combination of story and song was powerful.

The feedback after the service was both overwhelming and humbling. I really feel like we set ourselves and our congregation in a great place to start our Holy Week journey.

We now start our walk towards Good Friday,

knowing the story doesn't end there...

Growing Through Lent - Help Those in Need

(This Lent, my Dad, Rev. Hollis Hiscock, and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Dad’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

As we study the Gospels (as recommended last week),

we see countless examples of Jesus helping those around Him:

If they needed to speak, He stopped and listened.

If they were sick, He healed them.

If they needed knowledge, He taught them.

As we move into the book of Acts, we see how the newly formed ‘church’ used their time, talent, and treasures to help those in their communities who were without.

So as we start to grow in our faith, we are encouraged to follow the model of Christ and His followers in helping those around us.

We posted the question,

“How do you use your time, talents, or treasures

($$$ or resources) to help those around you?”

on several Facebook forums.

Here are some of our responses (edited for space):

H.W.

My friends and I sing at three different senior homes once a month (volunteering). When there are needs, I pray for people whom I do not know ... I teach children from low income families free piano lessons. I drive widows to grocery shopping or doctor's appointments ... I donate money to support (music) ministries.

A.S.

I work at a hospital, changing undergarments, checking vitals, making my patients happy.

H.H.

I volunteer with the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (Canada). We prepare (free) income tax returns for people with limited income. I expect to complete between 75-100 during March and April, 2012.

H.G.H.

I'm part of a team of pastoral visitors at St. Christopher's Church, and I help with our senior's luncheons.

A.K.O.

I write and create art daily for my blog that inspires others … I tithe to my church; I give to causes like the SPCA and the United Way. This evening, I spent a few hours to support and comfort friends who lost their mother.

B.S.

I teach art to adults … I welcome people to the Library and help them find what they need ... I make great signage that informs, instructs, directs to support others in finding what they are looking for! I smile a lot and spread sunshine wherever I go! :)

One person finished their response with this:

I am just sharing God's blessings and

all glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ.

We encourage you to take a few moments today to think about your time, treasure, and talents, and how you might use them to help those in your community or abroad.

This is the final post for our Growing Through Lent co-blog.

Thank you for joining us on our Lenten journey!

CD Tracking Done!

This Nashville trip has been amazing. We spent yesterday at the studio, doing final touches on a few guitar parts, getting rough mixes of all the tracks, and just sitting in awe of what the musicians did with our songs.

Today, we enjoyed the city - eating, shopping, and time with friends.

Tomorrow, we start the drive home.

In the meantime, I've posted more photos!

You can see them on our SITE or FACEBOOK PAGE.

Not-So-Live Studio Blogging - Band Day!

(Long, amazing day that has surpassed our expectations.

It's been a long day, so grab a latte and enjoy today's journey...)

9:00am

Band day! Adding bass, keyboard, and percussion to all the guitar/vocal tracks we recorded last week. Starting with A Prayer Will Find You – the most rhythmically challenging song of the day.

9:27am

Sounding so amazing!!! Gerald and I are giggling like kids at the circus. This is gonna be a good day!

9:35am

First full take done. Doing another take with another kind of percussion.

These musicians are just amazing. They play it through so beautifully, and then they say, “Let’s do it again. I can do it better.” And it is better! How does that happen???

9:47am

The guys are joking about “Nashville pattern baldness” – a strip of bald across the top of your head from wearing headphones all day.

10:03am

First song done! Awesome! Donut break.

10:10am

Next song: Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone). The players are hearing the charts and working out their parts.

Everyone will play through the entire song. That way, in the final mix, we can pick and choose if we want, for example, drums the whole way through, or if want to pull them out for a verse.

10:33am

Just before we tracked my first CD, “Real Big Fan,” several people described a Nashville recording session this way:

A bunch of nondescript guys will enter the room. They’ll talk, crack jokes, drink coffee, eat donuts, and look totally unfocused. Then the downbeat will hit, and those nondescript guys will play your song better than you’ve ever imagined it.

So true…

10:37am

Adding the tiniest tambourine I’ve ever seen. To quote the drummer, “It adds pizzazz, yet hurts no one.”

10:46am

Moving on to You Are. To keep the percussion light and earthy, the drummer is using djembe and congos on this.

11:20am

Keyboardist adding string quartet patch to You Are.

11:35am

Living Manna is next. Probably the lightest instrumentation on the album. Denny loves this song (*blush*). Just complimented my melody and prosody.

11:39am

Musicians jamming as Denny sets levels. It’s always humbling to remember that after today, these guys will be back playing for all of Nashville’s top stars and songwriters.

11:55am

One more to hit before lunch: Wondrous Journey. Trying different sounds – drum kit and Wurlitzer electric piano.

12:20pm

Wondrous Journey done. Lunch break!

1:15pm

Starting the afternoon with I Wanna Make Some Noise, the song I wrote while stuck in QEW traffic one day. I’m singing the scratch vocal with the band.

1:44pm

Vocal done! Two takes done! This totally rocks!!! Bluesy, Black Gospel, old school R&B – whoo!! We are having some church right about now!

Doing another take with electric guitar and Hammond B3 organ. They’ll play on the track, and also on the instrumental solo verse.

2:00pm

I Wanna Make Some Noise done, and sounding awesome!! Moving on to How Great Thou Art.

We’re so excited about everything! Denny is loving it too. It’s hard to put all this into words.

2:11pm

Electric guitar sounds so amazing, Gerald and I both just had the same idea – he’s going to play the melodic ("Then sings my soul") hook just before the rhythmic intro. Nice.

2:32pm

Adding a little guitar solo after the second chorus.

2:43pm

Next song: There is a Voice.

2:56pm

Just started intro - Gerald and I are giggling like school kids.

3:20pm

Espresso break! Making espressos for the band...

3:35pm

Moving on to You Take Me Higher.

3:55pm

Awesome! We’re calling that take the Espresso Remix!

4:12pm

You Take Me Higher is sounding incredible. A flock of birds just started singing outside – even nature likes our new CD!

4:19pm

Two more to go. Listening to Infinitely More with the players now.

4:30pm

Flashing back to Cape Breton where we started writing Infinitely More. Oh the things that can come out of a smoky hotel room in Cheticamp…

4:44pm

Last song! Real Big Fan. Save the fun for last!

5:35pm

Real Big Fan done! Sounds bluesy and amazing. What an incredible day. Just took a few photos with the band.

Keyboard player staying to record a few more overdubs.

6:27pm

Keyboard player has added tweaks to Real Big Fan and fantastic B3 organ to Wondrous Journey.

Now adding more string parts to You Are. I really appreciate the detailed approach these musicians take. The whole song can sound amazing, and they’ll say, “Hey, can we go back so I can replay the 3rd bar of the 2nd chorus? I can do something better there to lift that section.”

6:43pm

Polishing the piano solo on Living Manna.

7:05pm

Done! What a day. This has gone beyond our expectations.

Returning tomorrow for a few tweaks and just to make sure we’ve got everything covered.

Growing Through Lent - Read the Bible

(This Lent, my Dad, Rev. Hollis Hiscock, and I are co-blogging! You can find our posts every Monday at my Blog and Dad’s Blog. Visit, comment, share, and most importantly, feel free to join us in the journey.)

“Don’t get hung up on the actual words in the Bible;

get hung up on the messages conveyed

by the words of the Bible.”

“Treat the Bible like any other book,

and you will discover it’s not like any other book.”

The church encourages us to read the Bible daily, and extra during Lent.

The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) - the contemporary prayer book of the Anglican Church of Canada - invites us to have a holy Lent “by reading and meditating on the word of God.”

This means more than just speed reading the text. It entails thinking about the passage, searching for its message, and then applying it to our daily living. Some may recall having to memorize the Sunday prayer or collect (BAS page 391) which assured us that the Bible was “written for our learning,” and we need to “hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” Holy Scriptures.

For Christians, the four Gospels are the foundation of faith. It describes the life of Jesus Christ - his birth, youth and adult years, culminating in his death, resurrection and ascension. It also contains the teachings of Jesus – describing what God is like, and providing principles upon which people should model their lives mirroring the Master’s example.

The other New Testament writings, mostly letters, attempt to clarify the teachings of Jesus and answer practical questions posed by adherents of the newly found faith. The writers, recognizing the persecution being unleashed towards the Christians, encouraged them to remain faithful and stay the course. God has not abandoned them and in the final analysis, they will receive their eternal reward.

The Old Testament rounds out the triad or trinity of scriptures. It gives an account of our human development and illustrates how religion, culture, politics and history are often interwoven in the lives of people – sometimes too much. Yet to understand where we are now, we need to delve into the past to decipher how God acts and reacts with humans.

We are suggesting that you read John’s Gospel during Lent - maybe reading the last chapters first in order to better understand what Jesus did, and how his life and teaching reflected why he did what he did.

As always, we encourage your thoughts

in the comment space below.

Recording Photos!!

I've posted photos from our Nashville recording sessions!

You can find them on our SITE or FACEBOOK PAGE.

We'll post more next week after the band sessions.