GtkListItem backgrounds?

[Evan Van Dyke <evandy sapienta org>]

I'm working on an application in which I have a GtkList of custom widgets.  Each item
is an assembly of other widgets that I've packed into(of course) a GtkListItem.
HOwever, I want to have the background color of the items to be different than
the base color of the GtkList.  I have tried setting the bg[] and base[] properties
of the GtkListItems appropriately, but this seems to have no effect.  As most of
the background area I need to fill comes from Labels(which don't draw their own
background) I'm stumped on how to do this.  Is there a mechanism to allow this?
Thanks in advance.

--Evan