Wilson Avenue in Middletown was closed late Friday morning for a special occasion. The township held a ceremony to rename the street “Van Zandt Way”. Middletown Mayor Tony Perry and NBC’s Brian Williams were on hand at the ceremony that paid tribute to Billy and Steven Van Zandt who grew up on Wilson Avenue.
Billy Van Zandt spoke of the house on Wilson Avenue by joking, “I don’t know what was in the water at our house but, we all drank it”.
During his remarks Steven paid tribute to his and Billy’s sister Kathy, saying “while me and Billy were running around trying to fight our way into show business she had to deal with the reality of keeping the family together. This is her honor as much as ours, maybe more so.”
He ended his remarks by saying that when he was younger his relationship with the Middletown police, especially the Chief of Police “wasn’t always that good”.
He joked with the crowd saying, “It’s a damn shame Chief Joseph McCarthy didn’t live here long enough to be here today. And it would have been just marvelous for him to have to see my name on his mail every day.”
