Alfredo Rodriguez

When the young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez says that he loves to improvise, he's specifically talking about making music. But he also could be speaking of his life. As a youngster in Havana, Rodriguez wanted to play drums but switched to piano in school. Classically trained, he can ad-lib his way from traditional Cuban son and modern jazz to Bartók and Iranian popular tunes, in a manner that suggests Art Tatum by way of Ernesto Lecuona. But his greatest test in extemporizing came earlier this year when Rodriguez had to talk his way past suspicious Mexican federal police and into the United States, where he defected through a Texas border town in January.

When the young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez says that he loves to improvise, he's specifically talking about making music. But he also could be speaking of his life. As a youngster in Havana, Rodriguez wanted to play drums but switched to piano in school. Classically trained, he can ad-lib his way from traditional Cuban son and modern jazz to Bartók and Iranian popular tunes, in a manner that suggests Art Tatum by way of Ernesto Lecuona. But his greatest test in extemporizing came earlier this year when Rodriguez had to talk his way past suspicious Mexican federal police and into the United States, where he defected through a Texas border town in January.

A South San Diego man slain in a drive-by shooting near his home Monday night apparently was an innocent victim who was merely bidding farewell to a guest at his 7-year-old daughter's birthday party when he was killed. While escorting a 71-year-old family friend to his truck, Alfredo Rodriguez, 41, paused to chat at the curb in front of his home in the Greenfield Mobile Club, when a light-colored sedan drove through the trailer park about 10 p.m.

A South San Diego man slain in a drive-by shooting near his home Monday night apparently was an innocent victim who was merely bidding farewell to a guest at his 7-year-old daughter's birthday party when he was killed. While escorting a 71-year-old family friend to his truck, Alfredo Rodriguez, 41, paused to chat at the curb in front of his home in the Greenfield Mobile Club, when a light-colored sedan drove through the trailer park about 10 p.m.

Cuban Ballerina Gets Asylum: A top ballerina with the Cuban National Ballet and her husband were granted political asylum in Spain, a police spokesman said Sunday. It was the latest strain in relations between Spain and its former Caribbean colony, already tense over 18 Cubans being sheltered at Spain's embassy in the Cuban capital of Havana.

Re "Radio en Espanol," Claudia Puig's April 7 cover story: The assimilation of various ethnic groups, each with their own unique culture and ideas, is what has made America the greatest nation on Earth. Our grandparents came to the United States from Ireland and Germany. As immigrants they faced discrimination and resentment, yet that never stopped them from wholeheartedly embracing the idea of America--a nation much greater than the sum of its people. That is why we were saddened and disturbed when we read the quote of Alfredo Rodriguez of KWKW radio: "We don't fear assimilation, not among Hispanics."

When Gustavo Dudamel takes the podium at the Hollywood Bowl next month as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, it will be a global event accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. The Philharmonic announced Monday that it will show the inaugural "?Bienvenido Gustavo!" concert for free on its website in a high-definition broadcast. Viewers can go to the orchestra's official site, www.laphil.org, to experience the concert beginning at 4 p.m. Oct. 3. All individual performances from the concert will be available on demand for 24 hours beginning at 10 a.m. the following day. This marks the first time that a concert at the Hollywood Bowl will be shown on the Internet, according to the orchestra.

A 21-year-old Imperial Beach man was sentenced to one year in jail and five years' probation Thursday for his role in a fatal drive-by shooting. Robert Windel Connelly, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to family of Alfredo Rodriguez, a 41-year-old shipyard foreman who was gunned down outside his mobile home in Nestor on Dec. 2. Connelly was one of four men involved in the shooting.

Four young men were ordered to stand trial in the fatal drive-by shooting of a man at his daughter's birthday party in South Bay mobile home park. Deputy Dist. Atty. David Greenberg said Anthony Trevino, 18, of Imperial Beach, was the gunman who shot Alfredo Rodriguez, 41, on Dec. 2. Greenberg said that co-defendant Robert Connelly, 20, of Imperial Beach, was the driver, and co-defendant Carlos Gutierrez, 19, of Chula Vista, furnished the weapon.

A Cuban who had sought and received political asylum in Spain with his wife, the prima ballerina of the Cuban National Ballet, has turned himself in to the Cuban Embassy in Madrid, embassy sources said today. Alfredo Rodriguez, lighting designer for the ballet company, and his wife, Dagmar Moradillo, had asked for refuge in Madrid last week after a performance in Majorca. The couple had planned to settle in Miami, where they have family.

Even though an Imperial Beach man was convicted of participating in a drive-by shooting, the judge in the case delayed Wednesday's sentencing in order to determine whether the man should serve any time in prison. Robert Connelly, 20, was found guilty June 4 of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Alfredo Rodriguez, a Nestor man who was standing in a mobile home park where Connelly and three other men had shot at an unoccupied vehicle in response to a traffic dispute.

Seeking to improve conditions in one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods, a federally funded youth services program has been launched to counsel teen-agers in the Kinston Avenue area about city services that are available to them. The program is one component of Kinston Avenue Pride Strategy, a broader program involving city departments.