DONALDSONVILLE • DUTCHTOWN • GEISMAR • GONZALES • PRAIRIEVILLE • ST. AMANT
THE ASCENSION
ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, S e p t e m b e r 17, 2025
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Darlene Denstorff AROUND ASCENSION
Hot Mic Comedy Show Thursday Join the Rotary Club of East Ascension for Hot Mic, a comedy night featuring DJ Rhett, Todd Royce, Brandon Haynes and Jeff Vance – four comedians taking the stage to raise money for the Rotary Club of East Ascension’s community service activities and a special donation to the Ascension Parish Volunteer Fire Department. The show starts at 6 p.m. at the VFW Post 3693, 42430 Churchpoint Road, Gonzales. For tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/4ewe7skk
Duck Calling Contest set A Duck Calling Contes starts at 7 p.m. Friday at Walk-On’s, 2828 Outfitter’s Drive Gonzales. To sign up, visit Wallk-On’s in person, cash only, no online or phone sign-ups available. Music will be by Outlaw Acoustics. The adult division for ages 17 and older, coast #40 and the grand prize is $500/ Entry into the you division contest is $15 and a $200 grand prize will be awarded.
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Troy LeBoeuf ASCENSION SPORTS
6 of 7 Ascension Parish football teams record huge offensive performances Week 2 of Ascension Parish football saw six of the seven teams win with some huge offensive performances. St. Amant quarterback Cooper Babin continues to pile up big numbers for the 2-0 Gators. East Ascension won in a shootout against Salmen and Dutchtown rebounded to beat Ponchatoula. Prairieville gets a program defining win over Parkview and Donaldsonville moves to 2-0 as they easily handled Port Allen. Ascension Christian gave coach Conrad Gayle his first win. The offenses put up video game numbers with the Gators putting up 60 against Cecilia. East Ascension put up 50 points and Dutchtown had 44 points in
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Noah James plays a song in the backyard of his home in Prairieville.
STAFF PHOTOS BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
‘I GOT TO RIDE THE WAVE’
He blew up on TikTok and got signed by Sony. This Baton Rouge native is rising in country music
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BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer
eenage singer-songwriter Noah James crafts music from his childhood bedroom in Prairieville. His instruments, including a few guitars, line the wall next to his sticker-covered closet door. James is a TikTok-viral, 18-yearold Baton Rouge native who has already made a name for himself in the country music industry. He just got signed by Sony-owned Santa Anna Records in December 2024, based in Nashville, and released his first EP, “The Tracks,” with six songs. “In my mind, I thought this was going to come five years from now,” James said about getting signed. “Never thought at 17 that this would ever even be possible.” After posting videos of his raw vocals and guitar strumming for three years, James has climbed to almost 300,000 followers on TikTok. He’s most known for his covers of country singer Zach Bryan and his poetic lyrics about love. In Prairieville, his favorite place to write from is his room. “If I come in here and play, then I’m walking around and playing,”
time to experiment with music. “One thing we do with homeschooling is we want to nurture each of them wherever their talents lay,” said James’ mother, Tiany Davis. “We knew that we wanted to support him in it, but he really did it all on his own.” James said he started taking music seriously at age 15, the same time when he started to post videos on TikTok. He taught himself how to play the guitar, and it didn’t take long for his first video to go viral in March 2024 when he covered “Burn, burn, burn” by Zach Bryan. The video has over 150,000 views. “I got to ride the wave with this,” James said he thought to himself after seeing the success of his video. In December 2024, he covered another Zach Bryan song that alJames shows off a bracelet tied most has 4 million likes, nearly around his guitar that reminds half of the overall 8.5 million likes himself to ask, ‘What would Jesus on his account. By the time he hit do?’ at his home in Prairieville. 10,000 followers, he was already skyrocketing to 20,000 followers. he said. “I was just posting on TikTok, having fun, just writing songs and TikTok fame hoping someone will like them,” James grew up in Prairieville and James said. So when Santa Ana Records conwas constantly around music. His father was a professional jazz play- tacted him in September 2024 with er, and being homeschooled with ä See JAMES, page 2G his brothers gave James even more
Hundreds turn out for Donaldsonville health clinic BY WENDY LOUP Contributing writer
Hundreds of Donaldsonville residents received free medical, vision and dental services Saturday during the Love Impact Coalition’s clinic at the Lemann Memorial Community Center. Doctors, nurses, optometrists and dentists tended to hundreds of people during the 12-hour event. PHOTO BY WENDY LOUP The clinic offered a slew of medVision screenings and prescription glasses are provided Saturday during ical care services such as vision exams and prescription glasses; the Love Impact Coalition free medical clinic in Donaldsonville.
dental cleanings, extractions and fillings; medical screenings for sexually transmitted infections and colon cancer; maternal and general health information. The clinic was based on a firstcome, first-served basis and did not require identification or insurance to receive care. Love Impact Coalition, a nonprofit organization, hosted the event with sponsors, the city of Donaldsonville and Louisiana Healthcare Connections. Donna Collins-Lewis, a former
Baton Rouge Metro Council member and founder of Love Impact Coalition, first had the idea to offer free medical services after visiting a clinic in Idaho in 2017. Collin-Lewis’ organization began offering free medical services events in 2018. Since then, Love Impact has hosted several in Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Alexandria and Shreveport. The Love Impact Coalition free clinics typically serve between
ä See CLINIC, page 4G