Donovan plays the nice guy

You can expect to see a lot more of Jeffrey Donovan in the coming months. The Amesbury native, who played Hamlet on the Common last summer, is generating big buzz for his work in "Come Early Morning," an indie film co starring Ashley Judd. "She's sleeping with every guy in Little Rock, and then she meets me," the handsome actor told us yesterday. "I've made my bread and butter playing mean guys and crazies, but here I play a nice guy." The movie, an audience fave at Sundance, was written and directed by actress Joey Lauren Adams. It opens this weekend. "Ashley read it and on page 2, she signed on," said Donovan, who lives in LA but makes it back to Amesbury twice a year. "I auditioned, and they wanted me." The UMass grad's got a lot going otherwise, including a TV pilot for USA with Gabrielle Anwar and a movie with Leonor Varela, two of the loveliest women on earth. "I think I'm going to follow George Clooney's lead and become a serial one-night stander," said Donovan, who's single. "I'm kidding, of course."

Camera can’t rock Joe Perry

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is walking around with a bump on his noggin and a black eye after getting struck by a camera boom in the head and face during a Las Vegas concert over the weekend. Perry's publicist released a statement yesterday saying the band was three songs into its set at the MGM Garden Arena , performing "Back in the Saddle," when Perry was hit by one of the 14 cameras that were filming the band at the time. Medical crews at the venue OK'd the Hopedale native to finish the 15-song, 90-minute set. "It was a scary moment for me, but you just say to yourself, 'To hell with it, play the song, there's 15,000 fans depending on you to not screw up,' " Perry said in a statement. "Besides," he added, "it's going to take more than a camera boom to take me out." It's been a tough year for the Aerosmith guys. Lead singer Steven Tyler had throat surgery and revealed he's been battling hepatitis C, and bassist Tom Hamilton was treated for throat cancer.

Guns N’ fireworks don’t mix

Two nights after the state fire marshal's office in Maine pulled the plug on the band's pyro-heavy stage show, all systems are go for Axl Rose and the reconstituted Guns N' Roses tonight at Worcester's DCU Center. "I'll be there for a demonstration at 5 p.m. [tonight]," Worcester Fire Captain William Metterville said yesterday. "And if I don't like it, they don't use it." Monday's show in Portland was called off at the last minute after fire officials told the band that alcohol would not be allowed on stage when fireworks were going off. On its website, the band said the fire marshals had "made it impossible" for the band to perform at "the usual high standards their fans deserve." What fans they have left, that is. The Portland show sold barely 3,500 tickets. The DCU Center will honor those tickets, which tells us they have a lot of empty seats.

Painter Ambreen Butt has been chosen as the 13th recipient of the Maud Morgan Prize, given annually by the Museum of Fine Arts to a female, mid-career artist in Massachusetts. The Pakistan-born, Cambridge-based painter was recognized for "her traditional Indian miniature paintings and the unique female perspective she brings to contemporary art." (The award is named for the noted visual artist Maud Morgan, who died in 1999.) Butt will receive a $5,000 prize and one of her paintings will be added to the MFA's contemporary art collection. Also, about 10 of Butt's paintings will be on display in the museum's lower rotunda starting later this month.

Actor Richard Thomas was out sightseeing in Beacon Hill yesterday getting in a little R&R before "Twelve Angry Men " opens tonight at the Colonial Theatre. The play, which runs through Nov. 19, costars George Wendt. . . . This winter's shaping up to be a busy one for Theo Epstein. Not only does the Sox GM have to find a few starters and someone to play first, third, short, right and, maybe, left, he's also on the hook to play at Hot Stove, Cool Music, which will be held Jan. 7 at the Paradise. Always a good time, the event will be MC'd by Mike O'Malley, and feature music by Epstein, Peter Gammons , Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz , Joe Pernice , Kay Hanley , a

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