Does Bandhelper allow you to export gig dates to a personal MS Outlook calendar?
Yes: http://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/sharing_your_calendar.html
Is this procedure a one time copy of the bandhelper calendar or a live link with actual sync?
It's a live link, but just a one-way sync. You have to add or edit the events in BandHelper, but your changes will appear in the other calendar app automatically.
That's allright. Great. thanx