“The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar,” said Bill (Alex Winter) to Ted in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But perhaps Frank Zappa would have been a better choice.

Winter is currently making a film titled, Who the F*@# is Frank Zappa, the first definitive documentary on the late artist’s life. In a press release, Winter described the film as “an epic saga of a great American artist and thinker; a major film event worthy of the scope of Zappa’s prodigious and varied creative output, and the breadth of his personal and political life.”

Winter is raising money for the project on Kickstarter, but the goal isn’t simply to finance the film. The director intends to subsidize a larger endeavor to archive and share “The Vault,” the coveted collection of Zappa material that contains unreleased music and unseen letters, photos, and compositions. Last year, Winter and producer Glen Zipper became the first people outside the Zappa family to be given access to The Vault.

“We’re private people, but we want the story to be told,” said Ahmet Zappa, Co-Trustee of the Zappa Family Trust and CEO of Zappa Records. “We couldn’t be happier to be working with Alex, an extraordinary filmmaker in his own right,” commented Zappa’s wife, Gail, before she passed. “With an advanced degree in perfect timing and a shared respect for conceptual continuity, we feel it is our duty.”

The campaign’s minimum goal is $500,000, but it includes a stretch goal of $3 million. “The more we raise, the more we can save,” says Winter, “which means more material and new recordings to share with the world.”

Among the rewards that pledgers can receive are screen credits, a visit to The Vault, and Frank Zappa’s actual house. That’s right, if you drop $9 million, Winter and Co. can finish the film, archive the entire vault, and you get to own Zappa’s 8,000 square foot mansion.

What do you think? Do you have $9 million? Can you please give me a Zappa guitar if you buy the house? Let me know in the comments.

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Image Credit: Artist