5 Series Gran Turismo | MINI Macabre

On October 17th Baron BMW hosted an unveiling of the All-New BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. The BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo adds new facets to BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine tradition and refines the concept of first-class travel. For the first time, attributes of an elegant sedan, a contemporary Sports Activity Vehicle and a classic Gran Turismo are masterfully melded into a single, harmonious vehicle concept.

In addition to the 5 Series Gran Turismo, the 7 Series w xDrive, X5 M and X6 M were introduced to the 100 + guests that explored the new additions while enjoying food and refreshments provided by Dean & Deluca. Thanks to all that came out to enjoy these beautifully engineered performance machines!
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If you’ve never been to one of Baron MINI’s social events then you need too! Once again, Baron’s own Samer Saba organized an outstanding event called MINI Macabre! MINI owners dressed up their cars and themselves while the other guests wore their Halloween best. All were treated to food, drink and entertainment. Over 250 ghosts, goblins and the walking dead were in attendance. Click here to view the photographic evidence!

Aaron Mumma Drummer-at-Large | Lawrence Bishop II and the Livestock Band

It’s rare to meet a real Rock Star in person, let alone get to know them as a friend. However, I have a friend and he is a Rock Star. A MINI Motoring Advisor by day and bonafide Rock Star by night Aaron Mumma is truly a one of a kind talent. He has played for such high profile bands like Tesla, ELO, RATT and Poison.  As drummer for The Black Mollys, Aaron has opened for Aerosmith and Motley Crue!

Aaron works for Baron MINI as a Motoring Advisor and is married with 3 lovely children. He now plays with Lawrence Bishop II and the Livestock Band. Lawrence Bishop II fronts a Christian Rock Band that after viewing several clips on YouTube, (provided here) blew my pre-conceived notion of what Christian Rock was, let alone what it sounded like.

Lawrence Bishop II has a story to tell and it is through his music his message is delivered. On October 9, 2009, Lawrence Bishop II and the Livestock Band will perform Live from Hutchins State Prison in Texas; a show that will be broadcast live via Webcast on Pro-claim.tv October 9th at 6:30pm then re-broadcast across the globe on a future date to 100 countries on TBN (channel 291 | Comcast)!

Below is YouTube clip 8 of 13 showcasing Aaron’s talent as a drummer. However, I suggest you watch all of the clips to get a taste of just how inspiring and good this band is. It’s not run-of-the-mill by any means! Enjoy!

Roots Festival | KC Irish Festival | Treads and Threads

Wow! I just looked at the date of the last post and realized I have been remiss in my duties to bring you news and updates from Baron BMW! Let’s start way back to the weekend of August 28-30, 2009 and take a quick peek at the Roots Festival in Paola, KS.

Roots Festival

Paola is a great little community south of Kansas City on 169 hwy. This small town flat out puts on the show! In the 20^th

Anniversary of the Roots Festival it showcased an impressive list of musical guests like Marc Broussard and The Robert Cray Band, the festival is also is home to the  BBQ Cookoff (aka) East Central KS State BBQ Championship. The

quaint town welcomed us Johnson County folk with open arms and it was a great time! Great Food, Great Music and a Great Venue. I look forward to next year! Bookmark the site and go, you will not be disappointed!

KC Irish Festival

Ah…the KC Irish Festival. Unless you have been there and done that, it’s hard to describe! With the Crown Center fountains flowing with green water as a backdrop, the 7^th annual KC Irish Fest was better than advertised. Since its inception the festival has grown to over 90,000 attendees for the weekend and gets better and better each year. It showcases a slew of local vendors, restaurants and Irish bands. We attended on Sunday (09/07/09) and enjoyed the food, vendors and of course the music. We loved The Elders and they always give you that fist pounding, political and Celtic vibe. Great time had by all and with our friends’ the Nelson’s in from Salt Lake, we felt like we had a little Irish in us! In fact my wife expressed her concern that her ancestry didn’t have a festival to celebrate, however after some research on Ancestry.com, we found a strong German lineage! Can’t wait for KC’s Oktoberfest!

Treads and Threads

The 8^th Annual Treads and Threads event at the Kansas Speedway was a great event! Baron BMW was thrilled to be a part of the festivities with placement of several BMW’s in and around the event!

“The eighth annual Treads & Threads grossed more than $1 million for cancer patient care at The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Under the stars and inside the oval at Kansas Speedway, The University of Kansas Hospital’s gala benefit drew a sell-out crowd of more than 3,000 partygoers. Emcee Larry Moore of KMBC-TV summed up the event as “the best time inKansas City for a worthy cause!”

Gourmet food and desserts from top area restaurants and caterers, specialty drinks from Bacardi, a stellar concert by pop icon Michael McDonald, amazing fireworks and dancing ’til midnight with Emerald City Band combined for a picture-perfect evening.

You can still contribute to this year’s beneficiaries: our apheresis unit for Blood and Marrow Transplant patients at the main hospital, and an appearance center to be created at the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Care Pavilion in Westwood.

You can donate online or by sending a check payable to KU Endowment to:

Fund Development
The Univerisity of Kansas Hospital
2330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Suite 302
Westwood, KS 66205

For more information, call 913-588-8888.”
(Excerpted from www.treadsandthreads.org )

Center of Excellence Banquet | Capital Grille Review

Baron BMW | Center of Excellence Award Winner Banquet

Group 1 Automotive CEO Earl Hesterberg

Recently Baron BMW played host to Earl Hesterberg, CEO of Group 1 Automotive, and several senior level execs from Group 1 and BMW to celebrate Baron BMW being named a 2009 Center of Excellence Award Winner. The Center of Excellence Award is given to the top 10% of BMW dealerships in the U.S. based on a wide ranging set of criteria. Of the thirty-four recipients, Baron BMW ranked number thirteen! 

To celebrate, Baron BMW Employees gathered at Jack Stack Barbecue in the Freight House district to dine on world-class ribs, brisket, ham and turkey and my personal favorite…the cheesy corn bake! We couldn’t have won this award without the hard work from our staff of sales and service professionals and the loyalty of our Customers.

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The Capital Grille | Kansas City’s Finest

This past Thursday night (07/16/09)  I had the opportunity to eat at the Capital Grille. Located in the Country Club Plaza, the Capital Grille is a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence recipient and known across the country as a bastion for well executed food. Arriving promptly at 7p we were immediately ushered into the main dining room. Myself and five others were seated a round table with a wall of wine as our backdrop and great view of the dining room. Tonight the restaurant was filled. The wait staff moved at a frenetic pace and while somewhat noisy, we were still able to carry on a conversation with little interruption. We were greeted by two service staff and were given menus and offered drinks. We ordered a bottle of 2005 Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2005 Beringer Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The Souverain could have used a little more time to open up as it was still a bit tight throughout the glass. The Beringer was rich and smooth. Calamari and Shrimp Cocktail was the first salvo in what was to be a great dinner. The Calamari is sautéed in garlic butter, then tossed with a blend of peppers and scallions. Spicy, it helped offset the still “green” Souverain Cabernet. The Shrimp Cocktail was good with ample, well chilled and firm shrimp.

Salad Course was next and I ordered the Caesar. Not over-dressed, it was delicious and the anchovies were tangy and firm, for me, this Caesar Salad was spot on. So far, so good!

Dinner arrived with much anticipation. I ordered the 10oz Filet Mignon medium rare. With it, we were served a variety of sides: roasted mushrooms, fresh asparagus with hollandaise, creamed spinach, Sam’s mashed potatoes and the lobster mac-n-cheese. The Lobster mac-n-cheese is unbelievable! Rich and creamy with chunks of lobster…They need to sell it out of the back door by the quart! If I had to choose my last meal, I would want this and nothing else. I’m misting up thinking about it!

My steak as you might guess was perfectly cooked. Warm and red throughout, it was perfectly seasoned and exceedingly tender and the juice covered my plate. My knife had little resistance on its way through the three-inch thick filet. The Beringer Knight’s Valley Cabernet is sturdy enough to compliment the filet and as someone who enjoys preparing my own cut of meat, I was more than impressed. Could be the best filet mignon I’ve ever had; certainly in Kansas City.

Dessert for me was a glass of Graham’s Six Grapes Port. Full bodied, it has deep extraction and massive black fruit. An initial blast of black licorice softens to a rich finish. Nice and neat. Should have had a slice of the Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake to go with it, but I was done, done, done.

 As I write this, it occurs to me that if you over think food and get too cute you run the risk of coming up short. If instead, you break it down to well seasoned and well executed food, you will always be satisfied. There was nothing we ordered that was over-done, over-sauced, or under/over-seasoned. Simple, clean flavors will always win out over complicated and finesse food because there is less room for error. Capital Grille does it right and I look forward to my next visit. The overall experience at the Capital Grille was exceptional.

I give it 9 out of 10 Roundels!

Until Next Time!

 The Baron

Nine Inch Nails | Jane’s Addiction Show Review

BMW’s and Industrial Rock…there is a connection…

Last night my wife Nicki, my brother Mark, his friend Lisa and I went to the Nine Inch Nails | Jane’s Addiction concert at the Starlight Theater (best venue in KC in  my opinion) in Kansas City, MO. At this very moment I am having a hard time processing the entire show, but what I can tell you is that I felt physically exhausted from the experience. I’m not going to give you a song by song review but rather impressions and opinions of each act. This isn’t to say that the show was bad. Not in the least…

The four of us loaded up in Nicki’s BMW 328xi and headed out in the misty evening hoping the rain would stay away. It did. Arriving at Starlight, we passed the SOLD OUT signs and headed toward the parking lot. The nice thing about a 3 Series is that they are nimble and handle well at slow and high speeds. Lisa commented that she liked the way the rear sunshades provided a limo like feel as we parked the car and got out.

The show was an assault on my previous preconceptions of what makes a show a good show. Prior to attending this show I was a typical fan of rock music and went because I knew the band and was familiar with all of their material. I know who NIN | JA is, and although I have downloaded one commercial hit by NIN; I have never purchased any of their offerings.

The show kicked off with a brief appearance by the Street Sweeper Social Club. A fist pounding sound that seemed to be a marriage of Punk and Metal with a little “Power to the People” sprinkled on top. Heavily influenced by Tom Morello it was a tighter more interesting manifestation of Rage Against the Machine. The video below was shot in Chula Vista 05/19/09 and features Trent Reznor of NIN.

Up next was NIN. If there was a word that captures Trent Reznor, that word is intent. Reznor is stunning. From the first note he proceeds to pound the life out of the audience with a digital backdrop and bone-crunching guitar. His genius is obvious and while his humility might argue over the use of the word genius, it is an apt description of the jaw-dropping display I witnessed. I felt assaulted and redeemed at the same time. Weird, huh? Below is a video from the show at Starlight Theater 05/27/09.

Jane’s Addiction was in a trick-bag. How to compete with NIN? A difficult proposition to say the least. While they impressed with hard to miss hits and Dave Navarro’s guitar, they fell literally short of upstaging NIN. Front man Perry Farrell’s slip off the stage was frightening but he recovered and didn’t miss a beat. Navarro flat out played his you know what off and left nothing on the stage. As my brother put it “JA kicked butt, but NIN was the show.” Below is a video from the show at Starlight Theater 05/27/09.

The Disconnect…

I titled this blog “BMW and Industrial Rock…there is a connection.” Before we can look at the connection we have to understand where the disconnect lies. The disconnect comes from the illusion that huge commercial successes are to be looked at as the benchmark but like some car manufacturers; they are in talent bankruptcy and devoid of any vision and edge. They continue to churn out a product that although well marketed, they fall horribly short of fulfilling expectations of paying fans. To put a finer point on it look no further than Brittany Spears, GM and Chrysler. They’re popular because the marketing works however the value of the product put forth lacks substance and the ability to perform well over the long-term. Or you can look at our direct competitors and see that Toyota, Honda and Nissan repackage thier cars and then asks you to pay more under the Lexus, Acura and Infinti badges respectively.  Where is the innovation?

The Connection…

On the other side is NIN | JA and BMW. They are substantive and original. BMW is still family owned and not beholdened to a parent corporation so ideas and innovation are free to be expressed in what you see on our showroom. What NIN | JA and BMW have in common is what they create is created with intent and precision. Built for longevity these artists surround themselves with talented individuals and each creates an ingeniously engineered product that touches your soul and leaves you a better human being for having experienced it.

I’m going to sit down now…

~ The Baron

Small Place Big Flavors…

Kansas City. Just mentioning the name conjures up images of Jazz, Blues, the Mob, Barbeque and the Old West. This is a proud city that has a unique blend of big name corporations and small town values. But just as it shares these qualities it also shares two states, Kansas and Missouri. These two city-states have great history and culture and is now being peppered with new attractions that warrant a closer look through a different perspective.

Let’s Drive will take an objective look at the venues and attractions in this historic “cow-town.” You can expect three things from this blog.

• We will examine dining, local watering holes, shows, movies, sports and a number of other subjects,
• We will stay away from politics and tabloid gossip and
• We will highlight the virtues and reasons why they call BMW the Ultimate Driving Machine.

So go on! Gas up your New BMW or Certified BMW and let’s get started! The first stop in our journey will start in Overland Park, KS and part of the Kansas City Metro area. A small Mexican restaurant called Torreon Cantina. As we pull the BMW X5 into the parking lot the restaurant is unassuming and quaint. You are greeted by an outdoor patio and the smell of warm corn tortillas. Torreon Cantina claims to be the birthplace of the Fish Bowl Margarita and who are we to argue! This place is beginning to fill during today’s (May 15th) lunch hour and the staff is pleasant and professional.

The dining room is no bigger than the garage both of my new BMW’s live in. I start off with some chips and salsa as this is a good gauge of what to expect. I am somewhat a salsa aficionado because I measure all salsa to what I make at home which my friends, family and strangers call the best salsa on the planet…no really! Anyways I sit, watch and listen as my lunchmates talk about the car business and how we have been impacted by the economy, the new administration and what we can do to solve the world’s problems.

Torreon Cantina is the kind of place you just want to hang out in, have a few drinks and be with your friends. The staff and quality of service encourages this feeling and I would have been happy doing just that, but I knew we would be moving on soon. However, lunch was upon us and I was glad for it.

When I dine out at a place that is new to me, I look for the most simple of dishes with complex flavors. A fan of fish tacos, I felt that this would be a good indicator of back of the house. This item is strictly off-menu and I ordered two in warm, soft corn tortillas and a side of black beans. Short and too the point. The tacos arrived and they did not disappoint. I love eating with my hands and touching the food…there is a primitive aspect to eating this way.

The fish was cooked perfectly.  Some places give you breaded fish which I find abhorrent and destroys the integrity and essence of the fish…not here. It was accented by two large and fresh pieces of avocado, sliced jalepenos and garnished with a mango-pineapple salsa. Delicious! The tortilla broke a bit because there was more than enough filling as I ate the taco, however it did not take away from the fact that this fish taco was exactly what the doctor ordered. The side of black beans were perfectly cooked and had a slight firmness to them…not mushy or overcooked. They were lightly but appropriately seasoned and had a perfect amount of cheddar cheese.

Simple. Satisfying. Delicious.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Torreon Cantina is a strong 8.5. With that, I will load up the Bimmer with friends and family when  Mexican food is on tap and so should you! We will come back often so we can sample more of the menu and one of their famous margarita’s! Now go and enjoy! It won’t disappoint!

~ The Baron

Welcome to Baron BMW Live Online!

Baron BMW at Night

This first Let’s Drive installment serves as an introduction to our new site and to highlight some of the new features we have built in with you in mind.

New BMW’s

This full-featured site is loaded with the information you need to make a better car-buying decision and communicate with your dealership. Be sure to check out our New BMW Lease and BMW Finance Offers. Updated monthly, these sections highlight the latest specials that BMW USA puts out to make it easier and more economical to get into the new BMW of your dreams.

Also, when you build your own New BMW it checks your build against what we have in inventory as the closest match! It’s never been easier to build and then find your new BMW! If you get stuck, just click on the chat icon located at the top of the page and we will be there, ready to assist you.

Certified Pre-Owned

Our new certified pre-owned pages are sure to be a great asset in finding the perfect certified pre-owned BMW you always wanted. Click on the video to see and hear the features and advantages of owning a Certified Pre-Owned BMW. Using the Tabs across the vehicle details page you can view not only the standard equipment and features, but the installed options as well! If you don’t find what you are looking for use this feature and we will put you on our wish list!

Value Your Trade

Baron BMW has partnered with Black Book Online to bring you the latest and most accurate way to evaluate your car. Dealers across the country use the Black Book to evaluate trades in vehicles. The Black Book is updated weekly to provide the most accurate numbers in the industry and now you have the ability to have a more realistic look at what your trade in is worth. Use it! It’s free and it’s easy!

Follow Us

You can learn more about Baron Automotive, Kansas City and join other BMW enthusiasts by joining our networks! Baron has unleashed the power of Social Networking to make it easier than ever to catch up and stay informed! Read our Blog, Join our Facebook Group and follow us on Twitter so we can make sure that you are up to date with the latest events and specials! In return, you can let us know what you are up to and provide fun and interesting events to like minded, BMW-loving people! Just remember there are proper channels to express your concerns should you have an issue with Baron, these sites are not the proper channels.

The Bottom Line: Call, Click, Chat or Come In – And Experience the Baron Difference!

~ The Baron

P.S.  Future installments will not be limited to what’s happening on our website. Instead Let’s Drive will take an objective look at the venues and attractions in Kansas City. You can expect three things from this blog.

• We will examine dining, local watering holes, shows, movies, sports and a number of other subjects,
• We will stay away from politics and tabloid gossip and
• We will highlight the virtues and reasons why they call BMW the Ultimate Driving Machine.