Change window title in multithreaded code

[Agni]

This is my code for a chat client. I create a simple UI with a text box for viewing the chat and an entry widget to write messages. There's a button called 'Connect', when i click this i start a new thread which does the connection and keeps receiving messages n writing them to the text box. The 'run' method also checks the screen state and if it's not in focus or minimized then it plays a sound.
my problem is that i dont want to play a sound but rather toggle the 'title string' or change the color of the root widget, basically somekind of visual indication that a new message has come. i tried a lot of things but as soon i try to do anythin in this thread the application just hangs.

please c the code and suggest something.

from Tkinter import *
import socket
import threading
import tkMessageBox
import winsound
import re
import pdb

#pdb.set_trace()
class myUIChat(Frame,threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self,par,wid,ht):
        Frame.__init__(self,master=par,width=wid,height=ht)
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.parent = par
        self.threadCount = 1
        self.connect()

    def connectToChat(self):
        try:            
            self.clientSocket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
            self.clientSocket.connect(('',7500))
            self.connectButton.config(text='Disconnect',command=self.closeConnection)            
            self.startRecvThread()              
        except:
            tkMessageBox.showinfo(message='Server down hai bidu... din bhar bas chatting hi karni hai tumhe')                 
            
    def connect(self):
        self.startChatWindow()    
       
    def startChatWindow(self):
        #draw the chat window
        self.scrollbar = Scrollbar(self)
        self.scrollbar.grid(row=3,column=3)       

        self.connectButton = Button(self,text='Connect To Chat',command=self.connectToChat)
        self.connectButton.grid(row=2,column=2)

        self.textWidget = Text(self,yscrollcommand=self.scrollbar.set)
        self.textWidget.grid(row=3,column=2)
        self.textWidget.bind('<Insert>',self.showWin)
        self.scrollbar.config(command=self.textWidget.yview)
        #self.textWidget.config(state=DISABLED)

        self.entryWidget = Entry(self)
        self.entryWidget.grid(row=5,column=2)
        self.entryWidget.bind('<Return>',self.sendMessage)
        self.entryWidget.focus()

    def showWin(self,event):
        print 'showin'        
                              
    def sendMessage(self,event):
        try:
            self.outMsg = self.entryWidget.get()
            self.clientSocket.send(self.outMsg)
            self.entryWidget.delete(0,END)
        except:            
            tkMessageBox.showinfo(message='kuch gadbad hai.. baad main try karo, thodi der kaam kar lo')
            self.closeConnection()

    def startRecvThread(self):
        self.start()
        
    def run(self):
        pdb.set_trace()
       #try:
        print 'main thread'
        while 1:                
            message = self.clientSocket.recv(1000)                                
            message = message + '\n'
            if message.startswith('qwedfgbnm12345'):
                message = re.sub('qwedfgbnm12345','',message)
                self.textWidget.tag_config('fg',foreground='red')                
                self.textWidget.insert(INSERT,message,'fg')
                continue
            self.textWidget.insert(INSERT,message)
            self.textWidget.see(END)
            if self.parent.state() == 'iconic' or self.textWidget.focus_displayof() == None:
                self.changeTitle()
                winsound.PlaySound('complete.wav',winsound.SND_ALIAS)
##        except:            
##            pass          

    def changeTitle(self):
#anythin meaninful i try to do here hangs the application
        print self.parent.frame()    
        
    def closeConnection(self):
        self.clientSocket.send('exit')
        self.clientSocket.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
        self.clientSocket.close()
        self.parent.destroy()
        
def main():
    try:        
        root = Tk()
        root.title('ChAt MaDI')
        label = Label(root,text='hello',bg='yellow')
        label.pack()
        application = myUIChat(root,20,20)
        application.pack()        
        root.mainloop()
        root.destroy()
    except:
        pass

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()