Getting there was not an easy one. It all began in February 2003. My sister was turning 13 and my mom wanted an act for her Hawaiian-themed party. She enlisted me and two of my friends, we'll call them Mike and Eric, to be that act. Eric and I were supposed to do a hula dance type thing while Mike played bongos, but Eric "Couldn't make it". Pussy. Anyhoo, the show went on and my mom later payed us for our good deeds with tickets to Ska Summit 2003. This was no laughing matter. See, we live in Southern California. So this could only mean one thing, road trip.

When we finally arrived in Vegas after our seven hour drive, we went to bed. Sorry, no amazing night life stories here. The next day, we arrived at Desert Breeze Skatepark at 8am. The gates didn't open till 10am. Now, I won't bore you with all the details between 10am and 8pm(Reel Big Fish), so I'll sum it up quickly: Press Pass, Lunch, Free Product Galore, Getting Hit in the Face During the Airwalk Product Toss, Meeting the Airwalk team after the face fiasco, Talking with Neville Staple(Cool Guy), Cheap CDs, dinner, Freak Show, and Voo Doo Glow Skulls for five minutes. Next up, Reel Big Fish!

7:10 on March 29, 2003 and i'm sitting in the press pit waiting for Reel Big Fish to come on. I have Mike hold my spot while I rush off and buy 40 dollars worth of Reel Big Fish merch. At 8pm, the show finally begins and the crowd goes ballistic.Every minute or two a crowd surfer will come flying into the press pit as bouncers grab them and throw them into us. I find it quite amusing, but most other people only find it annoying. One of the guys thrown into us was one of the trombone players from Forces of Evil. Thats right, I was kicked in the back of the head by Johnny Evil. He stood up, looked at me and said "How ya doin'?" and ran back into the crowd. As RBF started playing "She has a girlfriend now", Monique Powell came on stage and people crapped themselves. The guy next to me said "She may be a bitch, but this is still cool!" Damn Straight. Reel Big Fish finished playing and crowd did the usual "One More Song" bit. We returned to the hotel later that night and my voice returned about a week later. Off the hook. Ska Summit was hands down the best show i've ever attended. Period. -Chris Kettner