A few last minute gift ideas, featuring 2012 boxsets and  from The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Grateful Dead, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Heart, Strange Euphoria, Bob Dylan, The English Beat, Elvis Presley, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Los Lobos and Taj Mahal.   

In the disposable culture of today's music industry, it's almost inconceivable that a band could stay together for close to 40 years without the benefit of sustained platinum sales/arena-seating success while rising from a relatively narrow niche. Inconceivable for most bands but clearly not a problem for the massively talented Los Lobos, who play a free show Thursday at the Duke Energy Convention Center downtown.  

On their debut album for Shout! Factory, the gifted L.A. quintet (David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Louie Perez, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin) does best what they've always done well: combine the members' Mexican Folk/Cumbia heritage with an unflinching love of Blues, Rock, Country and R&B and make a brilliant hybrid sound that's unmistakably Los Lobos.  

The massively talented Los Lobos formed in 1973 and shot to prominence with their magnificent debut, 'How Will the Wolf Survive?.' The band has been answering that title question for the past quarter century, oblivious and impervious to prevailing trends, making the music they love for a multi-cultural audience that loves them for it. On their latest, 'Tin Can Trust,' Los Lobos continues making a brilliant hybrid sound that is unmistakably their own.