In <http://mathoverflow.net/questions/60326> it was answered that for a cuspidal newform $f$ of weight strictly greater than 2, then $L(f,1)$ is non-zero.  (Here the $L$-series is normalized so that the center of the critical strip is given by $s=k/2$.)  In particular, for such modular forms, their associated $p$-adic $L$-functions are non-zero.  As far as I know the non-vanishing of $p$-adic $L$-functions in the weight 2 case is a highly non-trivial result and relies upon a non-vanishing theorem of Rohrlich on twisted $L$-values.  Further, from the non-vanishing of the $p$-adic $L$-function, one can deduce that $L(f,\chi,j)$ is non-zero for all but finitely many pairs $(\chi,j)$ where $\chi$ is a Dirichlet character of $p$-power conductor and $j$ is an integer between $1$ and $k-1$, as long as $p$ is an ordinary prime for $f$.

My questions:

1) Is there a direct argument to prove the non-vanishing of $L(f,\chi,j)$ for all but finitely many $\chi$ and $j$ in the ordinary and weight greater than 2 case (which doesn't use $p$-adic $L$-functions).

2) Is this result known in the non-ordinary case?