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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seeing more of Moore

Mandy Moore (Brucegilbert Brucegilbert / The Spokesman-Review)
Michael Cidoni Associated Press

Mandy Moore doesn’t mind being perpetually seen as the “good girl” – even if she thinks that image is a bit skewed.

“You know what? It’s fair to say that I am proud and honored that the perception out there is that I’m a good person. That’s, to me, the highest compliment. I try to be a good person,” the 25-year-old entertainer says.

“But I don’t think it’s completely accurate to say that I’m just good. There is balance in life. You can’t have good without a little bad.”

Her latest album, “Amanda Leigh,” underscores her point.

At first listen, the perfectly perky first single, “I Could Break Your Heart Every Day of the Week,” sounds like something tailor-made for today’s tweens.

But listen again and you’ll hear a lyric that sounds like a dominatrix: “Squeeze the life out of you/Wrap you in sheets/I could break your heart any day of the week.”

“It’s sassy, if you will, and a little edgier and no-nonsense – a side of myself that doesn’t really come out too often,” she says. “But it was sort of fun to go there for the sake of the music.”

Moore rose to fame as a 15-year-old with the bubblegum song “Candy,” then matured in her sound and style over various recordings and became known as an actress for films including “A Walk to Remember.”

Earlier this year, she married Ryan Adams, the famously tortured singer/songwriter. Though some considered that an odd pairing, Moore doesn’t agree.

“I don’t think it’s a very yin-and-yang relationship,” she says. “In fact, I feel like we’re probably a lot more like most people would imagine, and that’s wonderful. … Life is good. I lucked out.”

The birthday bunch

Comedian Jerry Stiller is 82. Comedian Joan Rivers is 76. Singer Nancy Sinatra is 69. Singer Boz Scaggs is 65. Actress Sonia Braga is 59. Actor Griffin Dunne is 54. Cartoonist Scott Adams (“Dilbert”) is 52. Actor-director Keenan Ivory Wayans is 51. Actress Julianna Margulies is 42. Rapper Kanye West is 32.