Last month Indie Rock Reviews more or less broke the upper-left corner of the Internet when it revealed plans for a Cap’n Jazz reunion. Details at the time were sketchy, but the days following the news bulletin were telling, with two members of the group offering conflicting accounts of the supposed reunion. Davey von Bohlen, lead singer of Maritime, was interviewed by A.V. Club and said a Cap’n reunion was like “putting the cart before the horse.”

Soon after the reunion rumors started swirling, reader Seth Engel, of Chicago, e-mailed IRR saying he got in touch with Sam Zurick, who confirmed the reports. With that in mind, it was still one person’s word over another — until yesterday, when A.V. Club (and a host of others) reported that Cap’n Jazz would reunite at Chicago’s Empty Bottle Friday night. Believable or bogus, there is a lot of hype surrounding the night, which is a record release variety show for Tim Kinsella’s new compilation, “Joan of Arc Presents: Don’t Mind Control.”

Let’s examine the facts, however few and unfounded they may be. First, the “what” has already been confirmed: Cap’n Jazz, according to Zurick and several others close to the band, is reuniting. But what about the “when”? Take ex-Braid frontman and frequent Kinsella collaborator Bob Nanna’s latest tweets into account, especially this one:

Whirlwind Nashville trip almost over. Then ians pizza, @Threadless bingo, and oh yeah, cap’n jazz.

Meaningful? Meaningless? A red herring to throw us all off the scent of the band? OK, next we’ve got Oh My Rockness’s Twitter feed, which has been oozing with Cap’n Jazz-related updates. But this doesn’t prove anything — does it?

Whatever the “word on the street” is, and whatever the facts will end up being, you can believe one thing: People are excited. Even if nothing transpires, there is a hype surrounding the band and its individual members that hasn’t been there for a long, long time.