Lord of the ring
Finds owner of bauble musician lost in ’72
Though the details are somewhat hazy, this wildly improbable reunion tale boasts a ring of authenticity.
Literally.
Back in 1972, future rock drummer Stephen Moses graduated from Long Island’s Syosset High School. As the musician recalls, his class ring disappeared the next year. Where? He still has no idea.
Fast forward to the 1980s: Future attorney Michael Barash attended a show at punk landmark CBGB’s, where he quite randomly found the ring — maybe even one night after Moses’ band played a 1987 gig in the Bowery landmark.
Whatever happened, returning the ring to its rightful owner became Barash’s personal Holy Grail, a long and unsuccessful search stretching into the new millennium as the band with its red stone and engraved initials “S.M.” rested inside a paper clip holder on his desk.
The mystery was finally solved earlier this year — thank you, social media — with the lost ring returned to a surprised and happy Moses.
“I’m grateful as hell to have it,” he said. “If rings could talk? I don’t even know what it would say.”
Moses, whose band Alice Donut was a frequent act at CBGB’s, was astounded to learn of Barash’s efforts. He doesn’t remember where, how or when the ring from his Long Island high school days was lost following his graduation back in the Nixon administration.
Barash, renowned for his work with 9/11 first responders, was equally thrilled.
“It made me feel so wonderful to finally get that ring off my desk,” said the attorney. “To bring some happiness to a total stranger. There had to be a reason I found this ring. I had an obligation to return this ring.”
Barash, in a world without Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, initially sought the ring’s owner by reaching out to the Syosset library to ask if it could peruse the local high school yearbook. As the decades passed, he routinely asked any Long Islanders who stopped by his Manhattan office about the distinctive ring.
More recently, the social media expert at Barash’s firm did some cybersleuthing to track down the high school’s 1972 grads via Facebook groups. It took a couple of years, but one of the Syosset alums finally recognized the ring and reached out to Moses this past February.
“I think you may have my class ring,” the musician wrote in an email to Barash. The two quickly connected by phone, and finally met for a drink this past Wednesday.
“I was probably more excited,” said Barash with a laugh. “He was more in shock. It’s like the guy in ‘The Fugitive’ found the onearmed man. He turned out to be such a nice, regular guy.”
Moses was a founding member of Alice Donut, a band that released 10 albums on punk legend Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label.
Their biggest gig came in front of 33,000 people at the 1993 Reading Festival in England, and they were featured in the 2011 documentary “Freaks in Love.”
The band is still together and talking about new music, although Moses more recently worked with the Brooklyn-based band Um and with Welsh guitarist Percy Jones in the group MJ12.
Barash knew nothing about the amazing backstory across the years as he continued his hunt for the ring’s owner.
“I know it’s not a priceless gem,” said Barash. “But I knew it was valuable to someone.”
Moses, now 66, was left pondering an appearance — along with his recovered bauble — at the Class of 1972’s 50th anniversary reunion next year. “I might go,” he said, “just because of the ring.”