'mardi gras' is french meaning 'fat tuesday'. it is the last day before the lent fasting season. at the mardi gras there are festivals and carnivals all over the world. mardi gras is also a festival where members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community express themselves and it became a factor in the emancipation proces of these groups.in the context of the lyrics of the convalescent, 'mardi gras' may also refer to edgar pearce, aka 'the mardi gras bomber', who tried to extort money from banks like barclays and supermarkets by threatening to bomb them. he placed video-box bombs that carried a calling card welcoming victims to the "Mardi Gras Experience". his bombs often failed to go off and only seriously injured one person.

Edgar Pearce, 61-years-old, unemployed and divorced, was a man obsessed with committing the 'perfect crime', and thought he had found a way to pull it off. He came up with a scheme by which he got a large sum of money paid into a bank account. The plan then was to withdraw the funds using one of hundreds of cashpoint cards he had insisted be issued in a computer magazine under the guise of a promotion. april 28th 1998 he was caught during the execution of this 'perfect crime'. [many thanks to jake for providing this information].