Miah Smith and his wife, Alicia Porter Smith, who were featured for Scene in SLC on Oct. 22, 2009, are the owners of the City Dogs vegetarian street vending cart.

Nolan Kelly (aka, DJ Viking), who was featured for Scene in SLC on Dec. 17, 2009, spins industrial music at Area 51 (451 S. 400 West) and on KRCL 90.9 FM.

Their paths cross often: Alicia used to DJ at Area 51 and still maintains the Web site for Sanctuary, the downstairs floor of the club, while Miah is the frontman for the local dark rock band, Redemption, who have performed at Area 51. They often bring the City Dogs cart to Area 51 for the club's popular monthly fetish night.

Alicia: So what go you interested in DJing in the first place?

Nolan: It was boredom, actually. I was living with [Area 51's] DJ Jeremiah Kephart. One day, we were sitting at home bored, and he said, "You wanna learn how to do this?" I ended up getting addicted to buying CDs and was actually good at the DJ thing, so when there was an opening at the club, I hopped in.

Alicia: When I retired from DJing, I would go around and dance to the stuff that Nolan was playing, and it was a lot of the same stuff that I would have played. So I was like, "Eh, I don't really need to even do this anymore; he's got it covered, and I get to dance to it," so it was a good deal.

IN: What kind of stuff?

Alicia: Like the trip-hoppy stuff, like Portishead and Switchblade Symphony.

IN: So what do you guys think it takes to engage a crowd?

Miah: Talking to the crowd is the secret to engaging a crowd, I think.

Alicia: It's the opposite for DJs. You should not ever get on the mic.

Nolan: Keep your dirty mouth shut. It's changed a lot from when I started DJing.

Alicia: How so?

Nolan: Well, it used to be a lot more mature and poetic and intelligent. All the new club hits are just about sex and debauchery.

Alicia: I think that's how it's always been, though, because it took like, ten years to get Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" out of the daily rotation. I once wrote an article for a 'zine I did, about how if you say "fuck" in a song or if it's anything that girls can dance sexy to, it's going to be a dance floor hit.

Nolan: Another great one is unfounded angst. People always go for that. If it just sounds angry, but for no reason at all, people will be like, "He's speaking to me."

IN: You're all in the business of figuring out what the people want and trying to give it to them. How is that?

Alicia: Well, we just do what we want. We're vegetarian, which is why we love City Dogs and bought it. Nolan likes industrial and gothic music, so he plays it, and it just happens to be what other people like, too.

Miah: I think the continuing to give people what they want is the hard part. Initially it's easy, I think, for pretty much everyone, because when you first start, you're there, like in the moment with everyone else, but along the pathway it gets a little harder to not be removed from everyone else, just because you're always doing it and not always in the moment with everyone else.

Nolan: I don't think it's so much continuing to give people what they want as finding new people who like the same things that you like.

Alicia: I kind of like being a pioneer. I always thought, as a DJ, it's your job to sort through the mass of music and find the gems of music in the rough, and then introduce it slowly, but in a way that people will get to like and get to hear new music and stuff they might not have heard otherwise. But then you've also gotta cater to what they like and not just your own personal taste. You've gotta balance, "Here's what I think you should give a chance," with "Here's stuff that you guys are requesting," and take the pulse of your audience and play for what they are feeling like at the time. With the hot dog stand, you never know what people want. It changes all the time. Sometimes you sell a lot of tacos...

Miah: It's true. You never know what people are going to eat that day.

Nolan: Do you think you're making a dent in the Salt Lake taco cart market?

Miah: No.

Alicia: We're not taking anybody else's business, because it's such a niche. Those people couldn't go to other taco carts. And much like I was saying with introducing new music, it's like trying to snag people off the street who are walking along and think, "Oh, this looks good," and don't even know it's vegetarian, and introduce them to something new.

Miah: A lot of people come by the cart and will only eat my food because it's vegetarian, that aren't necessarily vegetarians, but they're like, "I don't trust that street meat, and I know that this is all pre-packaged."

IN: So what's the secret to getting people to care to come out to a show, a club, or to get hot dogs?

Miah: I think it's all the same, to tell you the truth. My philosophy is to never, ever let anybody have an excuse to say that they didn't know about it. So no matter how much you think you're oversaturating your e-mail lists and your Facebook friends, you always have to post almost every day if you want people to come.

Alicia: Yeah, but if you throw the best party, if you provide the best product, people are going to want it.

IN: What kinds of things do you think about when you're putting the package together, before you start promoting?

Nolan: The first thing I think of is, "Would I enjoy this?" And since I'm a picky bitch, if I think it would be fun, it turns out most people would think it's fun, too.