POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : Don’t Say Yes Until You’ve Talked to Their Attorneys

Accompanying the listing for Yes in the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock ‘n’ Roll is a photograph showing the British progressive-rock band’s best-known incarnation: singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboard player Rick Wakeman, drummer Bill Bruford and bassist Chris Squire.

It was this lineup that recorded Yes’ two highest-charting albums, 1971’s “Fragile” and 1972’s “Close to the Edge.” Moreover, it was this lineup that was primarily responsible for developing the group’s elaborate, neoclassical sound, of which Anderson’s ethereal soprano was, perhaps, the most identifiable aspect.

But when this fabled troupe, sans Squire, appears in San Diego sometime this fall, it won’t be as Yes. Even though Squire’s contributions to the group he and Anderson founded in 1968 were minimal--bass players, after all, are a dime (a quarter, with inflation) a dozen--he’s continued to tour and record under the Yes moniker long after the others dropped out.

And today, legal rights to the group’s name belong to Squire and Squire alone--and not to the band of former Yesmen led by Anderson.

Local concert promoter Bill Silva, who is negotiating with the other Yes for its upcoming San Diego date, discovered this last week in a letter from the Los Angeles law firm of Rintala, Smoot, Jaenicke & Brunswick, which represents Squire’s Yes. Stating that “my clients are acknowledged to be the owners of the trade name ‘Yes,’ ” attorney William T. Rintala warned Silva “that any use of ‘Yes’ . . . in such things as posters, advertisements or promotions which suggests or implies that the Anderson, Howe, Wakeman (and Bruford) group is ‘Yes’ would violate my clients’ rights and would require my clients to take steps to protect those rights.”

In a subsequent telephone interview, Rintala told The Times that his chief concern is that the public might be confused “about which act is appearing.”

“The Chris Squire group owns the name, and, while we don’t mind the other group making historical statements about their past, we don’t want them emphasizing the Yes name in a manner that would infringe on trademark law,” Rintala said.

Silva’s solution: The local appearance by Anderson, Howe, Wakeman and Bruford, tentatively scheduled for October, will be billed as “An Evening of Yes Music.”

“We’re trying to find a happy medium that will satisfy both parties,” Silva said. “We want to say yes to Yes, whoever Yes is.”

For young people who prefer their eggs chocolate and wrapped in foil, the upcoming San Diego Soviet Arts Festival holds little appeal. But, if Phil Quinn has his way, the youth of San Diego will get to sample a taste of Russian culture more to their liking: He’s hoping to present one or two Soviet rock bands, in concert at the San Diego Sports Arena, sometime during the festival’s three-week run.

“We made a lot of inroads with Russian officials when we did the Moscow Circus” last December, said Quinn, the arena’s executive vice president and general manager, “and we’re hoping we can take advantage of those connections in bringing one or two of the most popular Soviet rock bands over here during the festival.

“I think we’re talking about a specific age group here that (the festival organizers) maybe don’t have anything for, and this would be the perfect thing to give young people a feeling of involvement, to bring the culture of Russia to them in a way they can relate.”

Bruce Herring, executive director of San Diego Festivals Inc., which is producing the Oct. 21-Nov. 11 Soviet Arts Festival, was noncommittal when asked whether he would like to get involved with Quinn’s proposal.

“We’re already exploring some contemporary music ideas of our own,” Herring said. “This is the first I’ve heard of their proposal, and I’d like to hear more about it before I comment.”

LINER NOTES: “(619) 239-KING” is the first single off Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper’s new Enigma Records album, “Root Hog or Die.” The tune is a follow-up to 1987’s “Elvis Is Everywhere,” the local duo’s uproarious debunking of the Elvis Presley mystique that garnered manic-talkin’ blues man Nixon and his washboard-strummin’ sidekick a fair amount of commercial radio airplay throughout the country.

Despite his long absence from the pop charts, crooner Neil Diamond had no trouble selling out his April 17 and 18 appearances at the San Diego Sports Arena. So a third arena date has been added: April 19. Tickets went on sale Monday. . . . Tickets go on sale today for industrial dance-rock band Nitzer Ebb’s April 11 concert at the Soma 555 dance club downtown. . . . The latest booking in the 13th annual concert series at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater is reggae singer Bunny Wailer on April 15.