When I think of dentists and music (why will go unexplained), the image that pops first in my mind is Steve Martin on his motorcycle in the 1986 cult classic, “Little Shop of Horrors.” But from now on, that memory of singing, sadistic and gas-sucking Orin Scrivello, DDS, will have to share the seat with Sebastian and the Crystal Monkeys.

 

The band Sebastian co-formed back in his high school days is still performing with its original members: Sebastian, A.J. Comparetto and Dennis Alfonso. And although it’s been active for 25 years, it has never received a proper name.

 

Instead, the fab three usually names the band based on the concert event or venue. But sometimes it’s based on the spirit, as is the case when the members opt to take humorous, lighthearted stabs at each other or unsuspecting friends in the audience.

 

That’s the backstory of the Crystal Monkeys’ inaugural gig, which was in front of nearly 400 festive fans at the Cuban Club’s 2007 St. Patrick’s Day Party in Ybor City.

 

Quick to find humor in the bizarre, Sebastian and his crew heard tale of a female friend of the band who received a crystal monkey as a gift from her boyfriend. Even though she liked the transparent critter, Sebastian disagreed and was eager to jokingly share his opinion with her again and again over the following months.

 

Time passed and the jokes faded, until she showed up to the St. Patrick’s Day concert just in time to see Sebastian’s band getting ready to play their first song. Sebastian walked to the microphone to announce the band.

 

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone and thank you for coming,” he said. “We are the Crystal Monkeys.”

 

Hmmmm?! Maybe there is more in common between sadist Orin Scrivello and Sebastian Castellano after all!