[tomsch]

answered my own question sorta

Please test this version out i beleive it account for DST and time zones

ob_start(); 
global $db,$vbulletin;

$mydate3 =  mktime(0, 0, 0, 5, 4, 2011);
//  %d 
$show_count =10; 

$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM ".TABLE_PREFIX."event WHERE visible = 1 AND (dateline_from >= '$mydate3' || (  dateline_from >= '$mydate3' AND dateline_to <= '%d' )) ORDER BY dateline_from ASC LIMIT %d",TIMENOW,TIMENOW,TIMENOW,$show_count); 

$event_get = vB::$db->query_read($query); 

$output_bits = ''; 
while($event = vB::$db->fetch_array($event_get)) { 

     if($event['dateline_to'] == 0 ) 
     { 
         $format = sprintf("On %s",vbdate('D M jS Y',$event['dateline_from'],false,true,false,true)); 
     } else { 
         $format = sprintf("From %s to %s",vbdate('D M jS Y',$event['dateline_from'],false,true,false,true),vbdate('jS M Y',$event['dateline_to'],false,true,false,true)); 
     } 
      
     $output_bits .= sprintf(' 
        <div class = "cms_widget_post_bit"><h4 class="cms_widget_post_header"><a href="calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=%d">%s</a></h4> 
            <p class="cms_widget_post_content">%s</p> 
         </div> 
        ',$event['eventid'],$event['title'],$format); 

} 
$output = $output_bits; 

ob_end_clean();