Multiple SELECT Queries To Display Data From Multiple Tables On Same Page

I decided to create two separate tables - Reviews and Features - to hold different kinds of data, with each one using joins to the same parent tables.

I decided on this method because the Features table for example doesn't require several of the rows that the Reviews table uses, such as Rating, Cover Art Etc., but I couldn't figure out how to stop them from displaying when I wanted to show a Feature.

Now I'm thinking I should be pulling from just one table and using ifs and elseifs Etc to change the way the data displays because when I went to create a pulldown in the nav section so people can see an index page with all the Music, Hardware, Software, Book Reviews Etc from the Reviews table and an index of all the Interviews, News, Opinion Etc. from the Features table I'm faced with a bigger coding problem than using what I'm hoping could be fixed with if's and else's, although I can't quite get my head around how those work.

Here are the two queries I have so far, and further down is an example each type displays on the page.

mysql_select_db($database_em, $em);
$query_getReview =
"SELECT 
reviews.title,
reviews.cover_art,
reviews.blog_entry,
reviews.rating,
reviews.published,
reviews.updated,
artists.artists_name,
contributors.contributors_name,
contributors.contributors_photo,
contributors.contributors_popup,
categories_name
FROM
reviews
JOIN artists ON artists.id = reviews.artistid
JOIN contributors ON contributors.id = reviews.contributorid
JOIN categories ON categories.id = reviews.categoryid
ORDER BY reviews.updated DESC LIMIT 3";
$getReview = mysql_query($query_getReview, $em) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getReview = mysql_fetch_assoc($getReview);
$totalRows_getReview = mysql_num_rows($getReview);

mysql_select_db($database_em, $em);
$query_getFeature =
"SELECT 
features.features_words,
features.published,
features.updated,
artists.artists_name,
contributors.contributors_name,
contributors.contributors_photo,
contributors.contributors_popup,
categories_name
FROM
features
JOIN artists ON artists.id = features.artistid
JOIN contributors ON contributors.id = features.contributorid
JOIN categories ON categories.id = features.categoryid
ORDER BY features.updated DESC LIMIT 1";
$getFeature= mysql_query($query_getFeature, $em) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getFeature = mysql_fetch_assoc($getFeature);
$totalRows_getFeature = mysql_num_rows($getFeature);

Here's an example of how I'm presenting on the page:

<?php do { ?>
<table id="center_table" width="650" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
    <td width="650" height="30" colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a class="category" href="/" target="_top"><?php echo $row_getReview['categories_name']; ?></span></td><!-- category -->
</tr>
Etc.
</table>
<?php } while ($row_getReview = mysql_fetch_assoc($getReview)); ?>


<?php do { ?>
<table id="center_table" width="650" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
    <td width="650" height="30" colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a       class="category" href="/" target="_top"><?php echo $row_getFeature['categories_name']; ?></span></td><!-- category -->
</tr>
<tr>
    <td  width="60" height="60" rowspan="2" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">&nbsp;</td><!-- product photo -->
    <td width="590" height="30" colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="artist"><?php echo $row_getFeature['artists_name']; ?></span><span class="title">Interview</td><!-- artist & title -->
</tr>

</table>
<?php } while ($row_getFeature = mysql_fetch_assoc($getFeature)); ?>

Needless to say this solution just seems like the wrong route, but it at least works.