Middletown street renamed for brothers Steven and Billy Van Zandt

Show business dreams are real in Middletown.

Wilson Avenue was ceremoniously renamed Van Zandt Way in honor of half brothers Steven Van Zandt and Billy Van Zandt on Friday, April 26. Newsman Brian Williams, also a Middletown native, emceed the event, which closed a portion of Wilson midday. Several hundred people attended, mostly Middletown residents.

“You’re in the presence of an architect of our own sound, the Jersey Shore sound,” said Williams of Steven.

Steven spoke fondly of his bother and sister, Kathi Van Zandt, who’s in the publishing industry, and their parents.

“This is a wonderful validation that the three of us did something right,” said Steven of his relationship with his parents. “(Mom Mary Van Zandt) was probably thankful that she got a second chance to fall in love, which happened to be with a guy from Jersey named William Van Zandt — and lucky for me he was a guy who was very secure and strong enough to marry a woman with a 7-year old kid.

"Not done that often in the '50s," Steven continued. "Something else that was not done that often in the '50s was getting divorced, especially if you're Catholic, and Ma was brought up a very strict Catholic so it must have taken a lot of her to get divorced with a kid looking at a very uncertain future.”

Steven also talked of the patriotism he got from his step-father, William Van Zandt.

“He was an ex-Marine Goldwater Republican,” Van Zandt said. “Now, let's hear it for Barry. My form of patriotism would go in a slightly different direction but the common ground was the true meaning of patriotism which has no party affiliation, no matter how they try to co-op it but it's simply a love of our country and the ideas it stands for and the ideals we continue to fight for.”

Billy spoke of the moment and the neighborhood to the several hundred in the crowd.

“This is overwhelming and surreal, and I love it,“ Billy said. “I loved growing up here. Our neighbors were also our family.”

The Van Zandts grew up at 263 Wilson Ave.

“We had loads of fun back then, cast parties after the shows,” said Middletown native Karen Conti, who was a classmate of Billy Van Zandt. “We always knew he was going to be successful and we were right.”

“I'm very excited for the Van Zandts. Stevie was my boy,” said Kay McEvilly, Steven's first manager who booked his early bands into Jersey Shore venues. “I knew the mother and the father and whole family. I'm proud to be here on their day.”

Steven, 73, is a member of the E Street Band and founder of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. He's considered an architect of the Sound of Asbury Park, a merging of rock and R&B that is recognized around the world.

He starred on TV's “The Sopranos,” and his 1985 song “Sun City” helped focus the music world on the injustice of the apartheid system in South Africa. His TeachRock learning aid, which uses music history in teaching lessons, is used across the country.

Billy, 66, and late writing partner Jane Milmore wrote TV episodes of “Newhart,” “Martin,” “The Hughleys,” “Suddenly Susan,” “Daddy Dearest” and many more. The pair wrote plays, and Billy acted in “Jaws 2” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”

The renaming of the street was an initiative by Middletown Township and the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Steven as born in Watertown, Massachusetts. He and life-long pal Bruce Springsteen participated in the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University's American Music Honors April 24 in the Pollak Theater in West Long Branch. John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples and Dion DiMucci were bestowed honors.

Springsteen, Van Zandt and the E Street Band's next show is Sunday, May 5, in Cardiff, Wales, UK.

At the ceremony, Steven also reflected on the irony of the moment in relation to his and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's connection to late Middletown Police Chief Joseph McCarthy, who apparently lived on Wilson Avenue. It was under McCarthy's watch that Middletown police shut down a Steel Mill band in September 1970 at the former Clearwater Swim Club on Route 36.

Steel Mill was a precursor to that would become the E Street Band. A warrant was issued for Danny Federici's arrest after the 1970 show because police believed he had purposely knocked amplifiers onto McCarthy.

“My relationship with law enforcement is quite good these days,” Van Zandt said. “For those who are a little bit older, you might have recalled an altercation or two. That's why it's a damn shame Chief Joseph McCarthy didn't live long enough to be here today. We had an interesting relationship, and it would have been just marvelous for him to have to see my name on his mail everyday.”

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Wilson Ave in Middletown NJ renamed after Steven, Billy Van Zandt