There is no other story as improbable, for much of what made Stax spin out indelible hits for so many years was the result of hunches, accidents, chemistry and blind risk by a group of people, many teenagers, who were learning as they were doing. Can we dare understand or appreciate the organic genesis of songs like "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" or "Hold On! I'm Comin'" in our current era, when most cultural products are machine-driven by global corporations that spend millions of dollars on research and development as insurance against duds? For us, these stories of the neighborhood singers who wandered into Stax with raw talent to later exit as international stars are as fantastic today as they are bittersweet.