Order by closest date

[Mark_Nordstrom]

SELECT *, DATE_FORMAT(event_start_date, '%M %d %Y') AS date FROM cal_events WHERE event_calendar_id='2' AND event_start_date <= '$date1' ORDER BY event_id ASC LIMIT 5

This is my query what I want it to do is order by the closest to furthest date of today so an event for today would be listed first and an event from last night would be listed last.

[NogDog]

Maybe add a call to DATEDIFF() in the select clause, then order by that?