Thanks for the replies. I forgot to note that it has to be as simplified as simple. I was thinking alongst the lines of a PIC like what Nigel suggested.
I'd need 3 output pins; 1 for each color and possibly implement a hold switch to "freeze" the current color, for a total of four i/o pins. I have done some minimal work with a 16F877A (just programming and building of the circut) and if memory serves me right, it has 33 i/o pins which seems like overkill in this case.
What PIC should be sufficient to meet these needs?