Ready to test the free market

Rodriguez is best known for his 1993 memoir, "Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.", but he's been pretty prolific since then, judging from his website, www.luisjrodriguez.com. In recent weeks, the author has been scrambling to save Tia Chucha's Cafe, the creative outpost he co-founded in culturally challenged Sylmar. Tia Chucha was evicted from her strip mall location, and had to relocate to temporary quarters with all her books, music and artwork. A benefit for the beloved venue is scheduled July 29, when Rodriguez will be back at the Ford with a host of supporters and well-wishers, including Culture Clash, Tierra and former Doors drummer John Densmore reading his poetry. More about the benefit later.

Meanwhile, in today's program, Rodriguez shares the bill with two Filipina authors, hip-hop poet Melinda Corazon Foley performing "Second Chances," and Alfie Ebojo with the brief "A Love Letter to Los Angeles." After the readings, meet the authors, sip complimentary wine and dig the sounds of Cartaya, which director-bassist Oskar Cartaya describes as "a mixture of Latin fire with jazz harmony, rock attitude and hip-hop freshness." The band is an underappreciated jewel of the local Latin jazz scene.

\o7"Notes of a Bald Cricket," "Second Chances" and "A Love Letter to Los Angeles," today at 1 p.m., Inside the Ford, John Anson Ford Theatre Complex, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. Tickets $5. (323) 461-3673, www.fordamphitheater.org.\f7

agustin.gurza@latimes.com