So what we're hearing is that the entire collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts is to be sold by Christie's Auctions of New York to pay down Detroit's staggering debts. There will be a total of six different auction sales, the first scheduled for Saturday, November 16th, and buyers worldwide are at the ready. The first four sales will be held at Christie's New York Rockefeller Center showrooms, the final two sales will be held in the D.I.A.'s by then empty Grand Hall.

Okay, that is not *entirely* true. We made it up. But the truth is that Christie's has been at the D.I.A. twice now and it's understood that they're appraising the artwork, and not here to set up an Antiques Roadshow.

We get it. Selling the city owned assets of the D.I.A. can go a long way to settle Detroit's debt caused by years of careless spending, a shrinking tax base, and corruption at what seems to be almost every level of government. The D.I.A. has a phenomenal collection of exhibits and individual pieces; from the original 1950's Howdy Doody marionette to Rembrandt's "Visitation" - two pieces alone that are valued at just under two million dollars.

Everybody gets it - but nobody likes it. The collection at the D.I.A. is on par with any art museum in the world. Repeated one hundred times (now 101) is the idea that if Detroit is to again become a world class city,  a world class art museum is essential.

As we seem to do our best thinking while relaxing in the opulence of the Sidetrack employee hot tub while pool boys and a couple of girls from the Vu keep the Bloody Mary bar stocked, and - based on nothing but the influence of a perfectly sunny day, good conversation and a couple of cocktails, we have a theory.

Every major museum, and most of the smaller museums, have "really good stuff" in storage. "Really good stuff" that has been donated, purchased or willed that due to a lack of continuity with other pieces, not enough exhibit space, changing styles and trends, or simply "out of sight, out of mind", good stuff that will likely forever reside in a museum basement or other off site storage areas. What might be in D.I.A. storage areas? Undiscovered paintings from Old Masters? Marshall Frederick bronze sculptures? Original Alexander Calders or Paul Klee's? A previously unknown Van Gogh self portrait entitled, "The Good Ear", or, maybe one or both of the lost and never found arms from the Venus de Milo or other ancient Greek sculptures?

Our theory is that it is the "really good stuff" in storage - the hidden treasures - that Christie's is examining and appraising. Perhaps there is hidden treasure that could be sold for substantial amounts to pay down Detroit's debts, while maintaining the integrity and the world class exhibits of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

And if Christie's visited Ypsilanti? Our museums boast quality items from a monumental 7' x 4' stain glass window from Tiffany Studios, 10,000 BC Indian artifacts, early 1800's horse drawn firefighting wagons, to a full size prop Tucker automobile used in the Tucker movie with Jeff Bridges and a rare 1954 Hudson Jetliner automobile. Public art includes "The Hiker", a bronze sculpture by Allen George Newman at the intersection of W.Cross and Washtenaw which pays tribute to the soldiers of the Spanish American War, the marble bust of Demitrius Ypsilanti in front of the Water Tower, the concrete and plaster Mother Mary at W. Cross and Hamilton, and - rivaling some of what would be seen at the Henry Ford Museum - the ten ton 19th century cast iron cannon in Prospect Park, originally used as a coastal defense gun at Fort McCary, Maine.

Christie's of New York is welcome to visit Ypsilanti anytime. In fact, we'll buy you lunch and give you the tour. But....you can't touch "our good stuff"!