Val
Fuentes ~ Drums
Toby
Gray ~ Bass
Mitchell
Holman ~ Bass
Carol
Suffron ~ Guitar, Vocals
David
LaFlamme ~ Electric Violin
Linda
LaFlamme ~ Organ
Patty
Santos ~ Vocals
These folks were from The S.F. Bay Area. Annie Glenn (Carol Suffron) sang backups on their first recording. After that they went back to S.F. Their manager used to call us (The Famliy Band) trying to get us to tour as "It's A Beautiful Day" since Annie had been in the group. We thought better of it and declined. They are back together now in the Bay Area.Brian Glenn, July 2007
They were from San Francisco and were one of Mathew Katz’s bands that he owned the name of. When they left him they left the name too. I remember three of the members names. They were David LaFlamme, electric violin, Linda LaFlamme, organ, and Patty Santos, vocals. They had a pretty popular recording called “White Bird”. Seems to me I heard David had a group in SF called The Orkestra. Skip Bowe, August 2007, Formerly Seattle, now in Stockton, Ca.
Their signature tune White Bird was written in Seattle. below are pics of the house they lived in, one of the current building where they played their first gig when it was a concert venue (Encore Ballroom), one of the band in 1967, and the cover of their
1st LP.In 1967 It's A Beautiful Day rent a house in Seattle and perform at The Encore Ballroom in Seattle each Friday and Saturday night for four or five weekends two shows per night during the month of December.
Encore BallroomWhile in Seattle, David and Linda Laflamme compose what will become their most well-known song. David tells the story:
Band House"We were living in the attic of an old Victorian house in Seattle, and performing at the Encore Ballroom. It was a typical Seattle winter day, rainy and drizzly, and we were looking out from the attic window over the street in front of this old house. It was on Capitol Hill, the old section of town across from Volunteer Park. There was a statue of some famous general right across the street in the park.
"The song describes the picture Linda and I saw as we looked out this little window in this attic. We had a little Wurlitzer portable piano sitting right in the well of this window, and I'd sit and work on songs. When you hear lines like, 'the leaves blow across the long black road to the darkened sky and its rage,' it's describing what I was seeing out the window.
"Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way."
In January of 1968 they return to San Francisco. Their big break in 1968 was a call from Bill Graham to open for Creams farewell tour at Oakland Coliseum. The band gets to fill in for Traffic who had a sick Steve Winwood. They get rave reviews which leads to a record deal with CBS.
Toby Gray, February 2009