$handle = mysql_query( 'SELECT * from `SOME_TABLE WHERE SOEMTHING ');
if ( ! $handle ) die ( 'SQL error: ' . mysql_error() );
// either this, to get whole row (array) of result
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $handle );
//or this, to get one cell
$row = mysql_result( .... );

mysql_free_result( $handle ); // frees up data from this query

SOME MORE QUERIES;

mysql_close(); // closes SQL connection