Re: Questions, questions...

The "sky" is the limit or at least your credit worthiness.

[Paul Longstreth] "Re: AUDIO, I will sacrifice video for great sound. At home I have access to great mics, but on the road, I'd like something portable and sturdy. "

You can buy a very high end condenser and a good XLR to USB adaptor.

[Paul Longstreth] "Re: VIDEO...don't know where to begin! If using iSight is possible, I'd begin there. If however, there are other affordable options, I'd consider a better camera. "
iSight will work but not very good quality. Get a good DV camera.

If you get a good DV Camera with XLR in and phantom power you can feed the mic into the camera and that will ensure sync since it's all going through the same clock. Cameras with two XLR ins would allow you to set up a stereo recording.

Keep in mind that your overall quality is limited by the stream itself. Ustream free service probably maxs out at about 700kbps combined video and audio give or take. A paid Watershed account will allow you to stream HD at data rates higher than many people can play though.